


Interspecies Bonding

by teicakes



Category: Free!
Genre: Discovery, I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT HAPPENED THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A ONE SHOT, I am so sorry, M/M, Smut, dolphin dick, mermaid au, oh god i wrote the smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-05
Updated: 2016-04-27
Packaged: 2018-01-07 12:26:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 21
Words: 66,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1119812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teicakes/pseuds/teicakes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It all starts when Rin suggests Makoto spends more time in the ocean to get over his fear, but soon enough he's in (quite literally) over his head. Story of two species trying to understand one another, and the ties that form along the way </p><p>Initially a one shot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Welp I got people to vote. And excluding the votes for a threesome MakoHaru won out, so here's your dolphin dick smut
> 
> ((I am so sorry))

It had been Rin's idea. A way to get over his fear of the ocean and get a bit of extra training in as well. So here was Makoto, out in Iwatobi's bay, swimming laps in the waters that had always terrified him so.

On the first day Rin had swum the circuit with him, measuring out the distances and reassuring Makoto everything would be fine. He had a point, the area Makoto was to swim in was calm, just out of the way of the boat traffic from the harbour, but not so far away that if he was in trouble a passing fisherman wouldn't be able to notice him and come to his aid. The route itself was simple as well, a wide triangle stretching between the beach next to the pier, a rocky cliffside at the entrance to the harbour, and a set of rocks a few hundred meters away. Regardless of where Makoto would be in his circuit, he'd never be more then 200m away from solid ground.

Makoto took a deep breath and looked over the diagram Rin had draw for him the other day. The spurts he had were small, 200 meters to the cliff, another 400 to the rocks, and a 500 back to shore. Below the drawing were a few line's of Rin's neat writing:  _for the first week do 2 circuits, weeks 2-3 3 circuits, week 4+ 4 circuits, any stroke._  Smiling to himself, the brunette tucked the instructions away inside his clothes and waded into the waiting waters. 

He'd started with breaststroke as way of easing himself into it, relishing in the fact he could lift his head out of the waters with every breath. Despite the urge to flip onto his back and swim his trademark stroke, Makoto fought it down. He was here to face the water, not run from it. So he powered on, whip kick after whip kick, along the invisible lines of his triangle. 

It was in the middle of his second 400 m stint that he felt it, a dull twinge in the muscles of his left leg. Makoto swallowed down the nerves welling up, focusing on the cliffs ahead of him and ignoring the now growing pain building in his calf.  _I do not have a cramp, that is not a cramp, it's just my leg falling asleep a little that's all._  He flipped onto his back, hoping the flutter kick he was so used to would help. The pain diminished for just long enough for Makoto to make it another 25 meters when it reached its apex. 

He froze, terrified as his legs could no longer hold his body at the surface, maitaining just enough sense to tread water with his hands, his lower body hanging uselessly in the water. 

There were no boats around now, the Iwatobi fishing fleet well out to sea now for their daily catch, nor anyone on the beach. Just his luck; when he was furthest from shore his legs had given out. Makoto bit his lip, weighing his options as the crushing panic began to creep up his spine. Both rocks and cliff were almost equally distant from him, and skulling his way against the tide to either would be no easy task. If only Rin was here...

"Is there a reason you stopped?" came a voice.

Makoto thrashed about in the waves, trying to find the source. There was someone there, someone  _close_  if the volume of the voice was anything to go by. Twisted in an uncomfortable position he spied the speaker.

A pair of bright blue eyes gazed at him lazily from beneath a mop of jet black hair. It was another boy, close to his own age. The stranger looked at Makoto with mild curiousity, or at least, Makoto thought he was. Everything below the stranger's nose was sunken below the surface so it was hard to tell. 

"Ah! Yes!" There was no point wasting time wondering what someone else was doing out here. "My leg cramped up, and I can't swim any more... could you help me get back to shore?"

The blue eyes regarded him for another instant, before sinking completely beneath a passing wake. 

"Hey! No... where did you go? Please! Help me!" Makoto pleaded to the open air, desperately searching the nearby waters for a sign of the mysterious stranger. His arms were getting tired now, and the fear constricting his chest was getting worse, his breaths coming in rapid shallow gasps. 

Something brushed against his foot.

Something big. 

He lost it at that instant, shrieking and thrashing, swallowing water as the pain in his leg flared up anew. He was going to die. He was going insane, seeing people, and now he was going to die. His head dropped beneath the surface once, twice, and Makoto could see a dark shadow of  _something_  waiting for him below. His body stopped responding, petrified with fear, and began to sink. 

And then he was pulled back up, mouth breaking the surface just as the last ounces of panicked breath were leaving him. An arm was wrapped around his torso, supporting him as he gulped in air. The blue eyed boy was back, out of nowhere, and staring intently at Makoto's face. As soon as he was sure Makoto wasn't about to pass out he began to make his way towards the outcropping of rocks, dragging the larger boy's bulk as if it were nothing. Makoto let out a little yelp of surprise at being carried so easily. His rescuer had barely broken a sweat, pulling up to the rocks faster then Makoto on a good day. 

The boy deposited Makoto gently on the algae coated bank and pulled away, keeping everything but his eyes submerged yet again. He watched curiously as the brunette set about streching his legs, massaging his calf muscles until the sting in them subsided. 

"Thank you," smiled Makoto at last, legs feeling normal again. "You really saved me." There was a small splash of acknowledgement from the other. "My names's Makoto," he continued, "What's yours?"

The strange boy twitched, looking away in what Makoto could almost swear was a embarrassed, albeit grumpy, way. 

"Ah... if you don't feel like tellin-"

"Haruka."

"Eh, Haruka?" Makoto leaned a little closer, Haruka dashing behind a nearby rock. He chuckled nervously, apologizing for getting in the dark-haired boy's space. "That's a pretty name. Are you sure you you don't want to take a rest too? You did drag me all the way here." 

Haruka shifted slightly, as if debating what to do. Something dark swished through the water near his feet. Makoto couldn't be sure... but it looked familiar. 

"I've been wondering..." thought Makoto out loud, "you got here awful quick, faster then I can swim on a good day. And you were out in the middle of the bay when you found me. You must be a really, really good swimmer. So good..."

"I can't be human?"

Haruka had snuck up on Makoto while the other boy was absorbed in his thoughts, practically on top of him now, leaning against his chest, azure eyes dazzlingly close Makoto was momentarily mezmerized by how blue they really were. Something cool and wet rubbed up against his legskins, far too large to be a leg. Makoto forced himself to tear his gaze away from Haruka's hues, chancing a glance at what lay between his legs. 

There, nestled between his thighs Haruka's torso stopped, blending into a grey tail, thick and muscular. A dorsal fin rose from the small of  the boy's back, thin white stripes sweeping down his sides to end at a pair of flukes. Makoto felt his mouth drop open.

"Me-mer-merm..."

"Merman," said Haruka, rolling his eyes as if reactions like this were everyday occurences. Makoto's mouth continued to open and close, but no sound came out. All he could do was stare in shock. The merman took this chance to examine Makoto's lower body with interest, picking at his toes. A salty finger probed between pinky and ring toe, and Makoto broke out in giggles. 

"Wha- what are you doing?" he asked between laughs.

"These are legs, aren't they? And these things at the end... these little fingers, what are they?"

"Ah, uhm... toes." Makoto gently extracted Haruka from his investigations in feet. "Just a normal part of feet. I take it you've never seen them?" 

"No," said Haruka, now poking Makoto's calf muscles. "I usually avoid humans. We're not supposed to approach you."

"Why not?"

Haruka shrugged. It wasn't hard for Makoto to guess though.

"It's because we'd experiment on you, right? That's why you're supposed to avoid us?"

As if an answer, Haruka began to slip back into the waters, tail flukes swishing from side to side. 

"Wait!" cried Makoto. He couldn't let Haruka dissapear as soon as they met. "I... I promise I won't tell anyone... so, would you keep me company when I swim?"

The mermaid turned over his shoulder, a smile flickering in his eyes.

"We'll see."

* * *

As it turned out, Haruka keep his word and Makoto kept his. Each morning Makoto would arrive on the beach, tuck his clothes and towel under a rock, and swim out to meet the merman. They'd complete Makoto's circuit, Haruka swerving and dancing around the brunette the entire way. The presence of Haruka kept the threat of the icy depth at bay. He found himslef beginning to swim freestyle just to see his new companion move as one with the currents beneath him. Afterwards, they'd stop at the rocks, sheltered from the eyes of the harbour and shore and talk. Haruka would question Makoto about the surface world, Makoto would ask about the sea. Sometimes they'd just sit in silence, listening to the sounds of the waves and wind. 

Today Makoto was wearing his orange legskins, and it hadn't gone unnoticed by Haruka. 

"Your skin... it's different today." He was gingerly poking the orange stripes with caution, as if they might sting him at any moment.

"Oh," chuckled Makoto, "I swum in my other pair last night and needed to soak them, so I'm using my old suit."

"Suit?" Wide blues looked up at him. 

"Swimsuit. It's a piece of clothing people wear when they go in the water. It's not part of our skin," he added, pulling at his waistband to show Haruka.

This new development had the mermaid investigating anew, crawling up the rocks to give a few cautionary prods at the waistband like Makoto had. Satisfied it wasn't going to harm him, he gained confidence, sliding his fingers beneath the tight fabric and giving an experimental tug, smiling at how the lycra snapped back against Makoto's skin. He continued to play with it under Makoto's cautious watch. 

Tracing along the V of Makoto's hips Haruka streched the swimsuit again, stopping mid tug to stare at what lay beneath. He began to lean closer, only to have Makoto shove him away. The brunette was blushing from tip to tail, cradling his crotch from the mermaid's prying fingers. 

"Haru!" he shrieked. "That's not decent!" 

"Why?"

"Be-because!" whimpered Makoto, "you're not supposed to do that to friends. That type of thing, it's only for lovers and couples to see. And you're not supposed to start there..."

Haruka cocked his head innocently. "How is it supposed to start?"

"Um, well, hand holding, and then maybe kissin..."

Any further words were muffled as the mermaid tugged Makoto's face to meet his own, winding their fingers together as their lips crashed together. The kiss was sloppy, lips fumbling together as the pair slowly opened up to one another. Makoto's initial stiffness ebbed away slowly, allowing Haruka to coax his mouth open with gentle laps of the tongue. They sunk into each other, falling into the shallows of the outcropping as they tasted each other, tongues exploring one another's mouths until they surfaced, red faced and out of breath. 

"Ha-Haru..." Makoto panted, eyes lidded, lips swollen. The mermaid ran his hands through the chocolate locks, peppering light kisses on the corner of Makoto's cheeks. Haruka's body was cool and soothing against his flushed skin, rubbing against his chest and tracing the outline of his inner thighs...

Makoto flinched, Haruka's hands freezing in his hair as _something_ continued to massage his hips. He pulled away from Haruka somewhat, ignoring the merman's angry huffs, inspecting his waist.

There, poking out from a hidden slit in Haruka's lower abdomen a fleshy appendage was rubbing between his thighs. Makoto watched in mute horror as it  _curled_ around the bulge in his suit, kneeding his balls through the thin fabric, tip worming it's way closer and closer to his waistband.

He broke the spell, backpedaling away in terror. "WHAT IS THAT?"

Haruka looked down, unconcerned as it retracted slightly. "It's my penis. You have one too, don't you?"

"Well, yes," sputtered Makoto. "But it's not like that!"

Haruka shrugged, leaning closer, intent on resuming their activities. His member slid forward in anticipation. "Yours was already out before we were even kissing."

"What?"

Haruka rolled his eyes as if this was the most obvious thing in the world. "You said it yourself. That 'suit' isn't a part of you. When I looked your dick was already out of your body. You were turned on."

Makoto turned a shade darker, rivaling Rin's hair in red colour. "No I wasn't! At least not then! Haru, humans don't work that way!" This was worse then the time Ren had caught him with morning wood. "We... we just don't work that way! And just, just what..." he was too scared to finish his sentance.

"What was I doing?" The merman had begun to sag, cock retracted completely back inside himself. "I thought... we might bond better..."

Makoto felt the strong urge to pull Haruka into a tight embrace, cradling the beautiful creature in front of him and comforting him until that expression was gone. But the idea of going near  _that_. 

He skirted around Haruka, staying as far away as possible as he made his way to the edge of the rocks. "I- I'm sorry Haruka..." he said, diving in and swimming away as fast as he could.

It was stupid and he knew it. Haruka could catch up to him in a heartbeat, but the mermaid made no attempt. Only his eyes followed Makoto, wet with tears as salty as the waters he lived in.

* * *

Makoto avoided the beach for the rest of the week, ignoring Rin's protests about letting all his progress go to waste. He was scared to see Haruka, scared to hear what he would say, or worse, scared that he wouldn't be there anymore. 

After 8 days of seperation he sat down at his computer and researched dolphins. From what he could tell, Haruka was part dolphin, and from the hits he was getting, his member certainly met the bill. Makoto grimaced at forum logs chatting about urban legends of dolphins having quickies, stories of aquarium dolphins wrapping their penises around people's wrists and ankles and needing to be pried off by someone else. There were also reports of huffing puffer fish, but he closed it when he realized he'd started getting off topic. 

Haruka was clearly more intelligent then a dolphin, or in the very least easier to communicate with. He'd listened when Makoto had told him the natural progression humans had when dating, and had backed off when Makoto had wanted to stop.

Supressing a sigh, he clicked on a university website (he probably should have just checked this one from the start). An article about dolphin sexual habits came up halfway down the page. Aside from describing how the animals had sex (some details Makoto seriously hoped Haruka was not into) there was a discussion on how dolphins used sex as a way to bond and resolve issues between members of a pod. 

He shoved his chair back, running his fingers through his hair. Haruka's words came back to him.

' _I thought we might bond better'_

Makoto cursed himself. Despite believing all his life he was good at reading people and understanding them, he'd completely misread Haruka, so wrapped up in the shock of such a strange appendage he couldn't pay attention to his friend's feelings. 

Glancing out the window at the dying light he made his decision. Grabbing a pair of swim shorts and calling to his mother he was heading out he made his way to the beach, holding onto the fragile hope that Haruka hadn't deserted Iwatobi after the last time they'd seen each other.

The sun had almost set by the time he'd made it to their bay, stripping off his shirt and wading into the shallows, desperately searching for a fin, a splash, any sign of Haru. Taking a deep breath and ignoring the fear rising in his chest he set out towards the rocks, praying that the merman was sleeping just out of sight

He reached them minutes later, panting and out of breath, calling Haruka's name weakly. No raven-tressed head emerged, no familiar splash of a tail. He ran around the small outcropping, searching every nook and cranny he could find. Haruka wasn't there. And why should he expect him to be? They hadn't talked in a week and his last words made it sound as though wanted nothing to do with him. 

Makoto swallowed the lump in his throat, and began making his way back to shore. He'd been an idiot. The number of humans who had seen a merman, let alone gotten to know one, and he'd squandered all that on one afternoon of discomfort. If only he'd stayed on the rocks that day, waited until he calmed down, let Haruka explain, things wouldn't have turned out this way.

"Haruka..." he whimpered, "I'm sorry."

"Took you long enough to come back."

Makoto froze mid-stroke, spinning around to see those familiar blue eyes, the barest traces of a smile on that usually blank face. 

"Haru!"

Relief washed over him as he threw himself into the mermaid's arms, pressing up against the creature he'd thought he'd never see again.

"I thought... I'm sorry... I was just scared, that's all," he bumbled, nuzzling his chin into the crook of Haruka's neck. It felt right, safe, out here in the middle of the ocean with Haruka. The merman's arms circled around him in a gentle hug, holding the two of them up with lazy flicks of his tail. How long they stayed that way, they didn't know, but it was Makoto that broke the silence at last. 

"It took me a while, and I've been thinking since then, but I want to show you how sorry I am... and I'll... take you up on your offer from then."

Haruka looked at him incredulously, his gaze flicking down to their waists and back up to Makoto. "Are you sure? You were so scare-"

"I'm sure," Makoto smiled, kissing Haruka lightly. "Just be gentle, okay?"

Haruka practically pounced on him with those words, pulling their faces together into a long deep kiss. They surfaced panting and breathless, cheeks flushingas Haruka pulled Makoto tighter against him and begun to swim towards the beach.

Whether it was on pupose or not, Makoto found himself stradling Haruka, the merman's tail rubbing between his thighs with every undulation of his hips. The friction of skin on fabric on skin tugged plesently on Makoto's cock, little groans escaping his mouth between kisses as Haruka surged forward. 

They beached themselves messily onto the shore, too engrossed in each other and removing Makoto's shorts to care about trivial details like that. Makoto's cock sprang loose of it's confines as Haruka tugged the elastic down, running his cool fingers along it and giving it an experimental stroke. Makoto groaned into Haru's mouth and let the merman guide his fingers to the slit on his abdomen, massaging the small nub that had begun to pucker out. He could feel himself grow stiffer against Haruka's fingers, letting out a whimper and his lover dragged a finger across his slit.

Slowly, Haruka began to spread Makoto's thighs apart, fingers tracing downwards to find his entrance. He traced the rim once, twice.

"W-wait..." breathed Makoto, "We don't have any... any lube..."

"I'll be careful," coaxed Haruka. His pupils were dialated, eyes smoking with lust as he leaned forward and pulled Makoto into another kiss. 

Haruka's hands rose to massage Makoto's nipples, rolling the pink nubs between his fingers and milking every moan of pleasure he could get from the boy. Something wet and warm rubbed up against Makoto's hole, tracing lazy circles with practiced ease before giving a cautionary prod against the ring of muscles. 

Makoto stiffled a cry, and Haruka moving lower to suck at the sensitive skin of his neck. All the while Haruka's cock continued it's loosening of Makoto, teasing the opening with the perfect dance of strokes and dips. A hand rose to his mouth, choking back a particulary loud cry of Haruka's name. Haruka looked up momentarily from his work, smilingly devilishly before resuming his marking of Makoto. 

He could feel Haruka move deeper within him, still shallow, but no longer massaging the outermost reaches of his asshole. The cock wriggled around inside, as if searching for something. And then it brushed up against a paticular spot, Makoto's cock twitching as he let out a a lewd moan. 

"Unn.. Haru..." Haruka rose to meet Makoto's lips, his cock hooking inside Makoto and beginning to attack the spot with earnest now, flicking and masaging faster and faster. His vision was a blur now, Haruka's lips and cock inside him the only things in his world. His back arched, kisses begging with need as he felt the familiar pool of warmth begin to well deep in his stomach.

"Haru... I'm close... please..." he mewed desperately. The merman pulled back, a string of saliva extending from his lips to Makoto's as he examined his mate. Makoto was spread open before him, body flushed, lips and member pink and swollen. His cock had stilled inside the boy, who was now giving little thrusts of the hips in wanton need. 

"Please..." begged Makoto, "fuck me."

At those words Haruka lost it. Lifting his hips, cock almost leaving Makoto's insides, he rammed forward, burrying himself to the hilt and basking in the sound Makoto made as he drove his dick deep inside his lover. His speed increased with each thrust, already close just from watching the brunette come undone beneath him. Makoto's hips bucked to meet his, breath hitching each time Haruka cocked his dick inside to graze that spot. Makoto's eyes were glassy, unfocused, drool dripping from the corner of his mouth. Haruka moved forward to meet them, their tongues intertwining together as their bodies united. 

Makoto shuddered, coming as Haruka dealt a particularly strong assault to his prostrate. Makoto's twitching insides pushing Haruka over the edge, making him come and milking him of every last drop as he spilled deep inside. Finally, both of them emptied, they lay still, Haruka gingerly removing himself before snuggling against Makoto's dirtied chest. 

The sounds of the world slowly came back to them, the water lapping against Makoto's toes and Haruka's flukes, the distant call of birdsong filling the night. Exhaustion setting in, Makoto stretched an arm around Haru's sinewy shoulders. The merman's breath slowed, and he found himself slipping into the pleasent lull of almost sleep. Everything was at peace.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long story short i started writing drabbles on the bus to and from school and this started morphing out of a few 7am early as eff rides, so yes, this will probably be continued in some form or another when i get the chance to write

 

If a month ago you had asked Makoto if he was dating anyone he would have laughed and shook his head, making some comment about how he couldn't see anyone wanting to be with him. Two months ago if you'd asked him if mermaids existed his reply would have been only in books. And if a week ago you'd asked him if he was a virgin all he would do was blush and stammer.   
  
Today the reaction to that question would be the same, but the answer had certainly changed.  
  
Makoto couldn't deny he was an average teenage boy, occasionally locking the door to his room for 20 minutes of privacy and release away from the twins' curious eyes, but now he wasn't so sure. It had been six days since he'd reunited with Haruka, the mermaid he'd met by chance while attempting to overcome his fears and the actual reunion, well, it wasn't exactly rated PG.   
  
The whole night was a blur of sensations and sweat, of bodies pressed together, limbs and tongues tangling as the lewd sounds of Haruka taking him filled the night air. He'd woken some time after the affair to the mermaid rinsing the film of cum and saliva from his body, eyes boring into Makoto's soul as if a glance alone could break into his mind and read his thoughts.   
  
"Are you feeling alright?" A hand had pressed against his forehead, deliciously cool on his heated skin. "Do you... Are you..." Haruka's eyes, usually so calm and anchored had given off the distinct impression that there were worries churning just below the surface.   
  
Makoto tested his limbs, still loose and sluggish from earlier, gingerly sitting up to pull the raven haired male against his chest.   
  
"I'm good," he'd mumbled against that pale skin, fingers threading through the slicked hair. "Tired, but good. I'm just so glad you didn't give up on me. I'm really, just..." his voice caught. "... Glad that it was you this happened with." And it was true. He hadn't realized how relieved he was to know Haruka didn't hate him until that moment. Or that he liked Haruka more then just a friend.  
  
Anything else that had happened that night was lost from his memory, no doubt sacrificed to commit every second of Haru's body and lips against his own to heart. Somehow he'd managed to stumble back home, rinsed the last traces of sand and Haru's essence from him, and collapsed into deep sleep.   
  
Since then he'd made sure to stop by the beach whenever he got the chance, even for just 10 minutes. Haruka had found a sheltered cove, tucked a few hundred meters away from the main beach and the watchful eye of observers. After school Makoto would make his way to the beach, deaking of the trail to cut through the underbrush until he came to the perilous rocky slope that led to their secret place. At low tide the water would collect in shallow pools, just deep enough for Haru to lounge and sun in. They'd talk, share stories, and part ways with a chaste kiss.   
  
Chaste. Gentle. Nothing like that night, the merman's tongue invading Makoto's  mouth in hungry exploration, tasting every nook and cranny as he sucked the breath from the boy's lungs, pausing only when he himself needed air. The change in Haru's advances left him wondering if he was the only one constantly wishing to relive those moments.  
  
Makoto told himself he really shouldn't be complaining. He'd been lucky even just to meet Haruka, let alone kiss him, so complaints about the level of intamacy weren't exactly merited. Still, he found himself daydreaming in class about it, lips tingling with the very memory. How Haruka had tasted of salt and and the faintest traces of sugar, how his teeth nipped at the skin of his lips, strong enough for them to swell but still gentle enough the skin was was left uncut.   
  
Today was particularly bad. His mind had been full of the merman, so much so he'd missed an entire afternoon's worth of notes. Last period all he could focus on was the sensation of haruka's bare chest rubbing up against his own. Eyes half focused on the board of notes Ama-sensei was writing his body gave a little tremble as the memory of the dolphins fingers slowly circling his nipples, tracing the rosey flesh before clamping down on...

Shit.

He was half hard, _in the middle of class._ He cursed inwardly again, racking his brains for something to bring the growing erection in his pants down. Nagisa stufing his face with fried chicken... that time when Ren and Ran were toddlers and had gotten into the compost bin... Rin giving him his judegemental glare as he told his best friend he'd let a fish fuck him...

Crap he was almost back to where he'd started. 

In the end he settled on his old swim coach, Sasabe, dressed in Ama-sensei's sundress and parasol. The whole thing worked a little too well at bringing him down.

_I need help._

* * *

That afternoon he was careful around Haruka, staying at arm's length the entire visit and conviently skipping their goodbye kiss. The fact there was no protest on the other's party side left his heart sinking as he left; didn't Haru want to touch just as much as he did?

He'd never really considered himself to be the type that liked other guys, but then again Haru wasn't exactly human. He mulled over it later that night, trying to picture himself being intimate with any of his other friends. Anything past a hug with Rei would be just plain awkward, and the idea of kissing Nagisa didn't have the same allure as Haru. He forced himself to conjure up the idea of being in the same beach with Rin, the redhead leaning over him as they readied themselves for what was to come... but there wasn't that same spark. It was definitely only Haru that did this to him. The idea of some other man doing it with him felt... off. Even picturing being with some pretty girl like he normally would didn't stir him the way it used to.

Yeah, Haru had pretty much ruined him for anyone else.

Not that it probably mattered to Haru much. In a fit of frustration he'd pulled out his phone and looked up dolphin partnership, face falling as he read description after description over the species' promiscuity. The females were supposedly even more flighty then the males, copulating with as many as possible to make it impossible for podmates to figure out the father. Even if Haru considered him a close friend, if that, he probably held the same type of mentality, one where sex was used to end fights and have a good time. He was the only one feeling like this.

 _No_ , thought Makoto, rolling over onto his side, phone abandoned in the covers, he wasn't completely smitten with Haruka, he couldn't... he shouldn't be. It was just the fact he hadn't had much release lately, too busy with school and family and Haru to find time to himself. All he needed was to get this out of his system, before these thoughts slowly poisoned him. His hand traced down his body, hovering over the waistband of his shorts. 

He just needed the release.

* * *

"Hey Haruka?"

"Mmm?" The merman flapped his flukes and shifted in the tide pool to look over at Makoto. The boy had stopped by after school to visit as always, the two of them relaxing in silence as sunlight filtered through the scraggly trees above. Makoto was seated on the rocky outcropping above, bare feet dangling in the water with pants rolled up. Despite his efforts to cure his mind of thoughts of the pair or them tangled in heat, there was still that little nagging worry in his mind, continuing to jab away at his insides every time he saw that calm face.

_You have to say something. We have to talk about this, or else you'll never be at ease._

Makoto swallowed, thinking about how to word this. Haruka had begun to play with his toes, a favourite pass-time of his. 

_Just ask him. Ask him if that meant anything to him._

"I..." he started. "I was..." Haruka gazed up at him curiously from between his ankles and that distinct feeling of drowning in those hues began to bubble forth. How would he look at him after this?

"I... I just wanted you to know...that I... that I..." Makoto faltered, falling silent as Haruka looked worriedly at him. He swallowed the lump in his throat.

"I'm going to be busy with school festival stuff for the next few days. I might not be able to stop by as much." It was a lie, and a horribly blatent one at that had Haruka known how schools worked, but the mermaid simply gave him a sour look before returning to playing with his big toe. 

"You'll start visiting again after it's over, right?"

Makoto willpower crumbled at the hope in his friend's voice. He ran a hand through Haruka's hair, tracing the contour of his ear. "Of course." The merman leaned into his hand, rubbing his cheek up against the calloused skin, the same cocked head and contented closed eyes the white kitten on the stairs made. Makoto half expected him to purr. He watched with baited breath, heart fluttering, as the merman continued to lean against him.

A sudden shiver ran through Haruka's body, resonating through Makoto's fingers as his partner jolted back, curling in on himself just out of the brunette's reach, eyes wide in shock.

"Haru!" he cried, stumbling through the shallow pool and ignoring his now soaking uniform pants to press a palm to the boy's forehead. "Are you okay? What-"

Haruka fliched,  _flinched_ away from Makoto with an expression of terror. A stab of pain shot through his chest, almost stumbling back with how it physically hurt

"Please...Makoto... don't..." Haru croaked.

He felt his mouth go dry. Haruka didn't want to be touched by him. He really was alone in all this. Slowly Makoto stood, hiding his face behind his bangs, praying Haruka wouldn't see the tears and puffiness forming around his eyes.

"I-I'll be going then..."

 

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short update of this before I head out to the airport. More Makoto brooding

“Mako-chan, you’ve been acting all different-like lately. Is something wrong?” The familiar cheerful face of Nagisa Hazuki was twisted into childish pout as he leaned down over his friend. “You’re not running off as soon as school ends…”

Makoto squirmed in his desk. “It’s nothing Nagisa, just, I don’t need to do that as much anymore.”

“Are you sure Mako-chan? Rei-chan and I are getting worried about you. You’re all aloof and distant-y.”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Makoto said through a forced smile. “I was actually feeling sort of guilty about that lately, which is why I’m not…” he racked his brains for a cover story, “… needing to swim in the ocean as much. That’s all.”

Nagisa’s mouth dropped in a round ‘O’, jumping forward to shake the taller boy’s arm.

“Mako-chan! Why are you swimming in the ocean instead of the pool? Isn’t it getting colder now, are you worried about getting a cold?” His big pink eyes shone about 3 inches too close to Makoto’s face.

Makoto couldn’t help but chuckle at that. “It’s just this training regiment Rin gave me. We both want me to get more comfortable with swimming in the ocean. I’ve been trying to keep to it since I know he’d be strict with me over it.”

He could see the cogs whirring away in Nagisa’s little head, trying to sort out how much was truth and how much might be hurt Makoto was hiding. He’d be unable to tell, even if he phoned up Rin. Their sharktoothed friend would tell Nagisa the exact same story.

Seemingly satisfied with the excuse, Nagisa grabbed Makoto by the arm and started hauling him towards the door. Makoto was starting to get a sense of what being Rei was like.

“Well then Mako-chan, since you’ve been feeling guilty about ignoring us lately, now’s the perfect time for you to take the whole swim team out to that new bake shop! Your treat!”

All Makoto could do was roll his eyes and let the little blonde drag him down the hall to their shoe lockers.

He had to admit, some time out with his friends had done him good, watching Nagisa shove four slices of cake into his face and Rei desperately trying to pace the boy was a welcome change from all his solitary brooding. The entire time they were together he’d barely thought of the merman, too wrapped up in chocolate cake and Gou’s gossip to care.

But now he was home and the high from that afternoon was waning. The crushing sadness was returning with renewed vigor. Ren and Ran had greeted him at the door, clinging to his legs, chatting animatedly about school and video games. Normally he’d pry them off and toss them onto the couch, joining them to watch cartoons and catch up on their days, but right now he didn’t feel up to faking interest or smiles.

“Onii-san’s a little tired tonight guys.”

“ Nii-chan~” whined Ren, only to have Ran bop him on the head.

“Let onii-chan rest,” she scolded, “he can play with us after he’s had a nap, isn’t that right onii-chan?”

“That’s right,” said Makoto, forcing another tired smile as he ruffled her hair. “Don’t scold Ren though. That’s mom’s job.”

Ran giggled and dragged Ren back towards the living room, calling “Play with us soon!”

Makoto sighed and dragged himself up the stairs, throwing his bag in the corner of his room and flopping down on the bed. “Ughhhhh.” He’d had fun today, no doubt about it, but towards the end of the outing he’d started to pick up on things. The way Rei hovered over Nagisa, wiping cream off his nose, and how Nagisa would turn to Rei and lick chocolate off his spoon. Both him and Gou had questioned if the pair were dating, but every time they saw a cute moment there was an equal squabble over nutrition or homework that made them rethink things.

He rolled onto his front. Rei and Nagisa definitely had a spark today between them, and what did he have? What could he ever have with Haruka?  They couldn’t go out to dinner together, and they couldn’t sit on the couch watching old movies and throwing popcorn at the screen. Even if he was aching to touch Haruka, to kiss Haruka, to wake up on the beach next to Haruka, he couldn’t. Because Haruka was a merman and he was human, and his infatuation was one sided.

“Haru…” he mumbled. _Where are you? Why don’t you want to be with me?_

* * *

 

Mackerel had gotten scarcer and scarcer to find these days, no doubt because of all the fisherman swarming the schools with their giant nets. Haru pouted at the teeny fry in his hands, wriggling against his grip. It was barely old enough to spawn, let alone make a decent meal. Begrudgingly he let it go.

The rest of the pod around him wasn’t fairing much better either. A calf darted past him, snapping up the mackerel he’d just let go. At least someone was getting a meal.

Whenever merpeople hunted in human waters they’d join pods of their respected brethren to blend in, carefully traveling in the safety of groups when fishermen entered the hunting grounds. The little calf swum up beside him and butted its head into his side in the search for more food. He shook his head, letting out a low whistle of apology to her. His stomach growled. He didn’t want to have to do this, but if he didn’t he was going to starve at this rate.

With a gentle pat on the young one’s head he broke away from the group and headed closer towards the coastline. Despite mackerel being his prime choice in food, he _could_ eat other things. But tuna were too large for him to hunt outside a pod and salmon weren’t in season. His one option left – Haru shivered – was _bottom feeders._ Their muddy flavor was something that stayed in his mouth for days. Ever since he started eating solid food he’d developed an intense dislike for them. But food was food, and he needed to eat.

He ended up catching a flounder, holding it out of the water like it was the chosen one until it’s flopping ceased and he could scrub as much filth off as possible. The meal was painfully bland and brief, but now he could focus on other things besides his stomach.

There was no point in heading to the sheltered cove. Makoto was busy with something called a “festival” at “school” (he wasn’t quite sure if it was wandering around in flocks like fish, but a pack of humans running in unison seemed off). He would have gone there just to sun himself, but it was overcast today. So he settled with wandering in search of underwater caves and sunken objects.

He’d just extracted a lost sandal from the bottom muck when he heard a whistle. Haruka listened closer. It was dolphin in origin, but it’s tone… was more musical. Not so much that those humans with the sound-grabby-boxes could tell them apart from regular dolphin song, but there was an underlying rhythm to the clicks that accompanied it.

It was another.

Haruka let loose a questioning chirp and swum towards the sound. Whoever it was let out another call, longer and louder this time. It took several minutes, whistling and listing, until the stranger finally came into sight.

It was a female of his kind. Her slim body twisted in the water as she caught sight of him, her long brown hair whipping around her face. She darted forward towards him, her long fingers strumming over his body as she looked him over, tongue flicking out to lick her lip. Evidently she liked what she saw.

Haruka cautiously eased them apart flinching slightly as her hands ghosted over his stomach. She fluttered her eyelashes at him. Haru hesitated for a second. That was all the invitation she was looking for.

Her lips crashed against his collarbone, nipping and sucking at his skin as she resumed her explorations of his chest. Haru whimpered, the skin on skin contact such a welcome change to rocks or water.

“What do you say?” she cooed against his shoulder. “It is mating season after all.” Her stomach rubbed against his hips and Haruka fought back a moan. It had been so long since he’d let go. So… very long.

* * *

 

This really wasn't somethin Makoto was comfortable doing, or more something he wasn't comfrotable to admitting to doing. After making sure his mother and the twins were occupied he'd closed his door, easing his curtains shut before returning to his bed. He'd heard of fingering before, but until today he hadn't been ready to try it. This pining over Haru was seriously not good for his health.

He'd just managed to squeak a second finger inside himself, shivering as he barely grazed that spot Haruka had pounded until he was ready to burst. Slowly he massaged them in and out, gripping his member in the other hand, until he felt himself grow hard between his fingers. Memories of Haru mounting him drifted into his mind, fingers speeding up as he remembered how the merman's breath had felt in his ear. He was close already, breaths coming out in little gasps now. Haruka's name was on his lips, interspersed between moans as he felt his climax upon him. Somewhere outside his bubble of pleasure he thought he heard footsteps in the hall, and maybe, just maybe, the turn of a-

"JESUS MAKOTO!"

Makoto's head snapped up in terror. 

In the doorway, mouth agape, stood Rin.

 

 

 

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning there is dub con frotting close to the end. This will not be treated lightly in future chapters

“HOLY FUCKING SHIT MAKOTO WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO YOURSELF?” Rin slammed the door shut behind him as fast as humanly possible. “Where are your fingers… why are your fingers… Just _what_ is going on here exactly?”

Makoto was beet red and frozen in place, seemingly unable to regain function in his limbs after his best friend walked in on him climaxing. His ass was still up in the air, fingers still in place as he hid his head in his sheets. His jaw was the first thing that managed to recover. His voice came out as a squeak.

“Why are you here?”

“I got a text from Nagisa saying you’ve been all mopey and beaten down lately and it’s all my fault for making you swim in the ocean every day. I thought I told you you only need to do it once a week now, so what exactly is stuck up your butt these days?” He winced as he crossed the room. “I mean, other then your fingers. Take those out already it’s really weird seeing you looking like some gay porn actor.

His fingers were pulled out as fast as he possibly could, trying to suppress a shudder of loss as he felt himself emptied. He wiped them on a tissue and buckled his pants back up.

“Sorry…”

“You’d better be sorry you left your room unlocked as you finger-fucked yourself. Think about what would have happened if one of your family members walked in on you.”

“Oh god…” croaked Makoto. “Rin… I’m sorry but I’m kind of glad it was you.”

“Fuck you,” said Rin, but he was smiling as he sat down across from Makoto. “Now what exactly is going on with you, and who’s this Haru you were getting off of?”

“Wait how did you…?” Rin cocked an eyebrow, eliciting an even deeper flush across Makoto’s cheeks.

“He’s… he’s…” Makoto wasn’t exactly sure if telling Rin he’d met a merman and let him fuck him was the best course of action. Just the image of seeing Makoto with his rear in the air freaked Rin out enough to Rei level embarrassment.

He chose his words carefully, making sure not to lie, but to leave out the few key details like Haru’s species.

“I met him at the beach. We’ve talked a lot and gotten to know each other, and he’s helped me get over my fear of the ocean more. But lately it felt like he didn’t want me around, and then the other day when I touched his shoulder he ran away from me, and so I’ve kinda been avoiding meeting him since.”

Rin cocked an eyebrow at him. “Is that _everything?_ ”

Makoto pursed his lips. “…Yes?” It was probably better not to mention the other stuff.

“I’m just asking because I don’t think you’d be jerking off to him if you were just friends. Or pretending he was fucking you.”

Makoto winced. Half the cat was out of the bag.

“We had sex… once.”

Rin made a sputtering sound and looked like he wanted to strangle something, settling on the dolphin plush beside him. “You… you _WHAT?_ And now he wants NOTHING to do with you? What sort of asshole is this guy?” The dolphin’s head had swollen with pressure, seams at their limit as Rin continued his tyrade. Makoto had the sudden traumatic image of Rin doing the same to Haru. “You _obviously_ like him enough to let him fuck you, because if I know you at all you’re not the type to ever have a one night stand. And since you seem to like it so much it’s unlikely he… he didn’t _force you_ , did he?”

Makoto’s throat was raw. “No! Haru would never do that!” Deep down inside he knew that much was true. “He wouldn’t… he’d never!”

“But he fucks you and then wants nothing to do with you...” snorted Rin. “He could have given you something Makoto, heck, what if he made you pregnant?!”

“Rin,” said Makoto with his best “you-are-so-dumb-sometimes-I-wonder-why-I’m-friends-with-you” look. “I’m a guy. I can’t get pregnant.” He gestured to his crotch for emphasis. “And even if I could I doubt he’d want to hurt me.”

Rin paused for a moment, contemplating Makoto’s last words. His hands loosened on the plush, hesitating before scooting closer to the brunette.

“Makoto,” he said, brow furrowed in concern. “I get that you like this guy, _heck_ , I’m fine with you being gay and everything about you more or less, but the fact that you’re this trusting of this ‘Haru’ has me worried. You’re holding him up on this pedestal because you’re so infatuated with him, but all I can see is some guy that you were friends with who’s decided that after one round in the sack he doesn’t want to be with you. Maybe he only wants you as a fuckbuddy, and maybe he just wants to stay friends, but right now he’s being a total ass to you and I’m feeling the intense urge to punch him in the face.”

“Please don’t…”

“Goddammit Mako…” Rin muttered. He grabbed the larger boy’s shoulders and pulled him down to his height, their foreheads nearly brushing together as Rin stared into Makoto’s eyes.

“Look. I’m not telling you to stop liking this guy. What I’m asking you is to talk to him and sort this shit out. You can’t keep this all in your head or you’ll end up in an even worse state then you are now. He needs to take responsibility for you, whether he wants to see you again or not.”

Makoto was tearing up now, fat droplets forming the corners of his eyes.

“Rin…”

“Don’t go crying on me now.” Rin brushed the tears aside. “I know you hate it when we all worry about you, but right now everyone is and we just want you to be happy. So go talk to this Haru guy and work things out between the two of you already.”

Makoto let out a wet laugh, pulling Rin into a tight hug. “I will. Thanks.”

“And don’t you dare try and get yourself off again without locking the door.”

* * *

He’d considered going to find Haru as soon as Rin left, but his growling stomach and the twin’s begging to play Mario together got the best of him. He was planning on going after dinner, only to be texted by a classmate and reminded of the assignment he’d forgotten. In the end he hadn’t even gone the next morning, sleeping in through the early alarm he set and waking up with just enough time to make it to school.

So here he was, rushing to their secret cove as soon as class ended. Nagisa had texted him, asking if he was alright going back to the beach because ‘Rin-chan is a meanie coach who’s pushing you way too hard’. He’d laughed it off, firing back a text that no, Rin wasn’t too hard on him and he just needed to do something right away today. Makoto swatted the last of the branches out of his face as he sent off the text and took a few deep breaths to calm the butterflies inside.

_It will be okay. We’ll talk. I’ll ask him what’s wrong and we can fix what’s bothering him together._

_At least… unless I’m the whole issue. Then what can I do except say goodbye?_

The image of Rin punching a dolphin in the nose suddenly appeared in his mind. No way would he or Nagisa or Rei or Gou let Makoto suffer over heartbreak, let alone let Haru get away with anything less then a real explanation. He slapped his cheeks and screwed his eyes shut. Either way things would be okay.

Carefully, so as not to startle Haruka if he was there, Makoto clambered over to the cliffside and looked down. The familiar tail of his aquatic friend was there, shining in the late afternoon sun, no doubt getting a bit of sunbathing in before nightfall. His back was turned to the land, so that Makoto was unable to see his face. With a pang of hurt Makoto prayed it wasn’t a subtle body language hint about them.

He’d climbed down beside the merman now, and still no response to his presence. Makoto was almost done convincing himself he was being ignored when he noticed the way Haruka’s chest was rising and falling. His breaths were coming in semi-erratic bursts, little shakes wracking that slender body. Leaning over he could see the way Haru’s face was twitching as his eyebrows screwed together, drops of sweat beading on his brow.

Fever. It had to be fever. He’d left Haruka alone for two weeks now and let him get horribly sick. Guilt bubbled up in his stomach, replacing the earlier butterflies with lead. Haruka was sick and it was all his fault… or wait, maybe it wasn’t fever.

Haruka stirred, rolling over onto his back and exposing the culprit. His now-familiar pink tendril was poking out of its slit, curling against his stomach and massaging itself against the pale skin. This close to him Makoto could now hear the little breathy sounds escaping with each exhale. He found himself fighting down the flush he found creeping towards his own lower half, lips pursed as he forced himself to continue watching. The ministrations of Haruka’s member continued its sensual dance against his body, Makoto unable to anything other then watch, hand hovering a hair’s breadth away...

A sudden jolt wracked Haru’s body; milky cum spilling over his skin and painting the expanse where tan fades to grey with cream. The merman’s eyes opened in a flash as if startled by his own orgasm. His breaths, heavy and labored, ceased as soon as he noticed Makoto beside him. The air was still for an instant as their eyes met.

Before Makoto could even register the movement Haruka pinned him face down against the wet granite, teeth scraping the soft skin of his neck between licks and sucks that pulled at his flesh and left what Makoto knew would be a series of deep red marks. He desperately tried to turn his head, to make contact with those lips attacking his body, but his attempt cut short by the sudden sensation of an invasion between his thighs.

Haruka’s member, still dripping with the last traces of his unconscious escapades, rubbed against the rough fabric of Makoto’s khakis with renewed vigor. A gasp escaped from above him as Haruka began to frot between his legs, hot breath in his ear and right then Makoto felt _it_ , the muscled hardness pressing up against his groin and butting against his own erection. He let out a groan of his own as Haruka’s thrusts pressed harder and harder between his cheeks. His mind was foggy. Here he was with Haruka doing these things to him, willing to touch him again and all he could do was raise his hips against that tail and let the merman continue thigh-fucking him.

_Maybe he only wants you as a fuckbuddy._

Rin’s words from yesterday rang out through the haze. He’d denied it, and yet here they were proving Rin right.

Slowly he felt himself sobering up, the liquid warmth pooling in his stomach turning to cold stone. Makoto twisted his hips, trying to dislodge Haruka.

“Haru… we can’t do this right now,” he breathed between thrusts. “We have to talk.” The merman continued his mindless pounding. Makoto swallowed, spreading his knees in the hopes Haru would notice the loss of friction and tried again. “Please Haru, we _need_ to.”

There was sudden pressure on his thighs as Haruka jerked him back upright, squeezing the brunette’s legs together even tighter and picking up speed. His protests were lost against the bites and huffs along his neck and in that instant Makoto realized how helpless he was against Haruka. Despite his larger frame, Haruka was pure muscle, the weight alone of his tail enough to keep Makoto from being able to wrestle free. Fear was bubbling up inside him now. He turned his head, eyes watering.

“Haru… please…”

His pleas fell on deaf ears. Haru made one final hard thrust, coming between Makoto’s legs and spattering the ground, biting Makoto’s shoulder so hard he broke the skin. Only when the final drops emptied from the merman’s member did he open his eyes and really _see_ Makoto beneath him, trembling and shaking.

Haruka’s blown pupils shrunk in an instant. He backpedaled away, scrambling across the rock until he was as far away as he could from Makoto, curling in on himself as much as he could. His usual calm blue eyes looked back in terror.

It took several minutes before either of them moved. Makoto pulled himself to his feet, gingerly wiping the few specks of cum from his uniform pants. He was still shaking himself. Haruka… Haruka had ignored his requests. His words to Rin echoed in his ears: _He’d never hurt me._ His stomach knotted with the thought. He’d been completely wrong.

Haruka winced away as he shifted his weight towards the path. Makoto wanted to throw up. Everything was wrong right now. They weren’t supposed to be like this. One last chance, did they even deserve that?

“Haru…” he croaked

The merman curled up even tighter, hiding his face. A teeny voice escaped from somewhere behind his tail.

“I’m sorry… You’d have been better off never meeting me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So SOMEONE sent me a video of dolphins having wet dreams during the last night of dick anons THIS IS ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT YOU REALIZE
> 
> There will not be instant forgiveness in the next chapter, likely a lengthy period of mistrust and a fair degree of Rin justice before the pair even manage to deal with this as I'm currently even debating where end game is headed


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The duo deal with the aftermath, but not without Rin making sure justice is served
> 
> EDIT: There's been some amazing fan art done of this I can't even handle it Q A Q thank you <33  
> [here](http://sinfulhime.tumblr.com/post/78245363569) and [here](http://free-afterdark.tumblr.com/post/77989760546)

“You’d have been better off never meeting me.” The words rang out around the cove, stabbing Makoto like a knife.

“Wh-why are you…”

“You’re safer not being around me. I’ll just hurt you again.” Haruka attempted to shuffle closer to the water without breaking his huddle. He managed to make it halfway before Makoto spoke out.

“Tell me why.” He could feel his voice trembling in his throat but he managed to keep it firm. “Tell me why you’re doing this, why you’re doing _any_ of this, how you could let yourself do that to me? _What am I to you?_ ”

He could have sworn he’d seen Haruka’s lips quiver. Tears were falling anew as he wrestled to hold himself together.

“Do you even care about me? Am I just someone you keep around in case you feel like you need to let off steam?” Salt water was streaming down his cheeks now. “Was I the only one that felt something that night?” he screamed hoarsely. “Because it seems like I’m the only one who can’t get it out of my head and it honestly feels like you don’t even want to touch me anymore if it’s not related to your cock!”

Makoto panted, waiting for Haruka to reply, apologize, just say or do anything at all. The insides of his legs were burning, dirtied with fallen trust. For far too long he’d had all these questions and doubts and everything was becoming horribly clear right now.

“If you don’t want me around anymore, aside from sex… just tell me…” Silence hung between them yet again. Always silence these days… it was unbearable. Haruka just stared back at him in blank hurt. Makoto swallowed. This was even worse then how he’d thought it might be.

“I get it… I guess… I’ll go.” His entire being was filling up with lead. He wanted to curl up and die. In minutes everything he thought he’d known was gone, replaced with fear that he’d mistaken everything between them.

“No,” came Haruka’s voice, “you don’t get it.”

Makoto froze in his tracks, fighting every instinct in his body to either run away or towards the merman and wait for the words that followed. He hated how there was still a faint bubble of hope in his chest, even after that betrayal. His head was screaming at him to leave, to find Rin or Rei or Nagisa and curl up in a pair of warm arms until the shaking finally stopped, but that poisoned needle of hope pined him to the spot, waiting for Haru’s words.

“You’re human, I’m a merman. We’re both completely different. Just because your species thinks or acts one way doesn’t mean I do too.”

It was hard for Makoto to breathe, the pin pressing in deeper to his chest. He hadn’t _said_ they were over before they began, but…

“But you’re right,” continued Haruka, head turned away now. “It’s better off if you go before something like this happens again.”

The needle pierced his heart as Haruka’s words hung in the air.

“So… so we’re….”

“Makoto. Leave.”

* * *

 

It was the last call Rin ever wanted to get. He’d been halfway to practice when his phone rang in his jacket pocket, casually flicking it open with a glance at the name: Makoto. Likely something about still not mustering the courage to face that Haruka or something of the sort. But as soon as they were connected he knew something was wrong. Even just from his voice Rin could see Makoto trembling, tears streaming down his face as he managed to choke out one sentence.

“You were worse then right.”

His feet had moved on their own, sprinting away from the pool and towards the train station as fast as his lungs could take, barely managing to shout to Nitori he wouldn’t be making practice today. He was already two stops down the line before he even noticed he was only wearing his jammers and Samezuka jacket, frantically firing text after text to Makoto

**Where are you?**

**What happened?**

**Did he hurt you?**

He only received an answer to the first one, dashing off towards the beach as soon as the train doors began to open, frantically screaming Makoto’s name until he came upon his best friend.

Makoto was huddled in a ball just off the main path, his school uniform mussed and damp, eyes puffy and red. Rin flung himself at his friend, ripping off his jacket and wrapping Makoto in it before cradling that large frame in his arms. He waited until the shaking subsided before he spoke.

“What happened?” He was rubbing slow circles into Makoto’s back, which seemed to be helping his friend regain control of himself. It took six long breaths before Makoto’s voice croaked into life.

“I met him… and we… he…” He shook his head, swallowing hard. “He doesn’t like me… he doesn’t want anything to do with me, except… except he-“ Makoto had started shaking again, one hand shifting to cover up his lower body.

Rin felt his heart stop.

“No. _He didn’t._ ”

Makoto whimpered and buried his head deeper into Rin’s chest. “I went to go find him, just like you told me to” Words started to tumble out of his mouth faster and faster. “He was sleeping and I think he was having some sort of dream because he was like _that_. And then he woke up and was still that way and he… he jumped on top of me and was kissing and biting my neck and rubbing and I kept telling him we needed to stop and talk but… but…” Makoto took a shuddering breath. Rin could feel his jacket growing damp where Makoto’s face was hidden. “He kept me there until he was done. And then he let go of me as fast as he could and said we never should have met.”

“So he…”

Makoto shifted uncomfortably. “Between my legs. Until he came.”

Rin’s heart had picked up to double speed, blood rushing to his ears as he fought back his rage. “That _fucking jerkwad!_ How dare he? Who the fuck does he think he is forcing you like that?” He could feel his fingers balling into fists, ready to hunt down and punch some sense into this slimeball. Makoto flinched as Rin’s nails dug into his skin, grateful when his friend quickly loosened his hold in favor of returning to gentle stroking.

“Rin?” Came Makoto’s voice from somewhere in the vicinity of his elbow.

“Yeah Mako?”

“Please… don’t judge me for this, but…” he could feel Makoto’s Adam’s apple bob against his arm. “At the start I was so relieved he was willing to touch me again, I was actually happy he wasn’t scared to be near me. I feel like… I almost may havewanted i-“

“Makoto,” shushed Rin. “Don’t you dare go putting any of the blame on yourself for this. You did jack shit to encourage him to do that to you, and you shouldn’t let your emotions cloud over what happened. He still assaulted you, regardless of how you feel about him. He took advantage and used you, that’s all there is to the story.” He pulled his friend even closer, whispering. “You did nothing wrong.”

“You’re.. you’re right Rin. I guess.” Makoto pulled away a bit, managing a halfhearted smile at the redhead. “I just wish I knew what was going on in his head sometimes.”

Rin continued to hold Makoto against him, rocking the boy back and forth in his arms until he could finally hear his breathing return to normal

“I swear I’m going to do everything I can to make this pile of human scum pay for what he’s done to you. Starting with tracking him down and giving him a piece of my mind.”

There was a nervous hum from Makoto.

“Don’t tell me I’m not allowed to go after this douchenozzle because _I’m going after him._ ”

“That’s not it…” mumbled Makoto. “It’s actually more… he’s not really human.”

* * *

 

Rin stormed though the underbrush, practically tearing the forest apart limb by limb as he raced towards the secret cove. Someone, no, some _thing_ had taken advantage of his best friend and he’d be _damned_ if he didn’t give this ‘merman’ some form of karma for it. So intent on tracking Haruka down was he that he hardly cared at the present Makoto’d managed to find, befriend and make out with a work of fiction. All that mattered right now that was this magic fish-boy was about to get a fist to the jaw.

“ _YOU,”_ Rin spat, eyes locking onto the black haired figure on the rocks below. Despite Makoto’s belief that the merman would be long gone by now the surprised face swiveling to meet his own provided some pretty substantial evidence to the contrary.

Haruka barely had a chance to open his mouth in shock before Rin vaulted the cliff and tackled him to the ground.

“You _fucker!_ ” He made a swipe at Haruka’s chin, only to have him dodge it. Rin faked left and managed to sucker-punch the mermaid in the neck, relishing in how he grunted out in pain. But Haruka wasn’t an easy target. Grabbing the still out-stretched arm he twisted it in. Rin hissed in pain, throwing his legs into the fray now and managing to get a knee in Haruka’s side and release his grip.

The pair wrestled for dominance, Haruka holding the upper hand for a bit with a few choice tail blows, then Rin with a mix of teeth and fists. He was thrown against the rock face by another one of Haruka’s tail swipes, momentarily dazed and giving the other a chance to try fleeing for the safety of the waters, before managing to turn the tables once and for all.

Haruka was no more then an arm’s length away from the water, reaching out and preparing for a speedy getaway when Rin jumped on his back, twisting an arm up behind the dorsal fin that protruded out of his lower back.

“You’re not going anywhere!” he hissed.

The merman attempted to shake him off, trying to buck and claw at Rin with his free arm, but to no avail. The swimmer had full advantage now, able to hold Haruka in place using his thighs and -with another failed swipe- both hands braced behind his fin. That didn’t mean he stopped his struggles. Haruka thrashed about, lips parting as he let out a clicking scream that reverberated out across the bay and up Rin’s very nerves.

“It’s pointless fighting!” Rin huffed, grinding Haru’s face against the cool stone. “I’ve got you pinned.”

The merman shot his a murderous glare and attempted to bite Rin’s fingers. The redhead let out a low chuckle.

“Wrong day to try and cross me fish-boy. I didn’t even know about your tail and already you were on thin ice as is… But how _dare_ you! _How. Dare. You.”_ Each word was emphasized with another grind of Haruka’s face against the gravel. “I’m _going_ to _make… You... Pay…_ For _what…_ you _did…_ to _Makoto!”_

At the mention of Makoto’s name all struggles stopped.

The merman seemed to loose all fight, sagging against Rin’s hold. The sudden stillness took him by surprise, a hushed "what the hell" escaping his lips before he could stop it. A mashed voice came from the merman.

"Do it."

 Rin remained dumbstruck, grip slacking on Haruka’s arms but the latter making no attempt to break free.

"Do your worst. I deserve it after all."

Rin sucked in a breath, trying to process what just happened. All he'd done is mention Makoto's name and the creature beneath him had lost all fight, willing, heck _encouraging_ him to dole out a punishment for his actions. _What the hell was going on?_

His thinking was cut short by something hard and spikey acquainting itself with the side of his head. A glance to the assaulting object revealed it to be a conch shell, faded pink with flecks of crimson he had a sickening feeling was his own blood. Despite the prime opportunity to flee, Haruka was still allowing himself to be held down by Rin, staring the complete opposite direction at the source of the weapon.

"You..." he croaked, and Rin spun around to the sight of a chestnut haired girl submerged just half dozen meters away from them. She gave Haruka a coy wave, and from the corner of his eye he saw something large and silver stir in the waters beneath her.

"Oh god there's more of you." Haruka made a defensive sniff before lifting his head for a better view.

"What are you doing here? 

The mermaid floated on her back, revealing the barest glimpse of where human flesh melded to grey muscle and casually began examining her nails. 

"I heard your call, though I suppose it was more directed at your pod then me." She gave the pair in the beach a seductive look over her nail beds. "Seems like you're in quite the predicament right now. Looks like you might need my help."

There was a low growl from Haruka. Evidently the pair were acquainted somehow, whether they were neighbors or sex partners Rin couldn't care less. He already disliked her.

"Here's the deal," she giggled, holding up her other hand to reveal an even larger shell. "I get you out of being captured for some human experiment and in return _you_ give _me_ what I want."

His grip had tightened in Haruka's wrists. The hairs in the back of Rin's neck were bristling as the female tossed the shell back and forth in her hands. One of them was enough, but two… 

Haruka had yet to respond, still remaining eerily still in Rin's pinning. Apparently he was making some kind of expression of uncertainty because the mermaid was pouting now.

"Oh come on,” she laughed. “You're such a tease. You know you'll enjoy it. I've been spreading my scent in this territory for days, it's only a matter of time before you give in." Her hands traced down her body to circle a spot just below her hips, tongue darting out to swipe her lips. "You were at your breaking point yesterday, so what do you say…” She swum up, barely an arm’s reach from them. One hand reached down to cup her small breast teasingly. “I free you, and we mate.”

A feral snarl was the only warning Rin had before Haruka bucked forward at the female. She shrieked, barely escaping the clack of his teeth. The merman had reared up like a cat, knocking Rin off his back as he practically radiated fury.

“I TOLD YOU!” Haruka hissed, “I _told_ you I _have a mate!_   _I don’t want you! LEAVE ME ALONE!”_

The mermaid dodged another one of Haruka’s swipes, wrinkling her nose. “We don’t take mates! You know the ways!”

“I know the ways perfectly well!” spat Haruka, “And I know his ways. Go swim off and find another male to mate with, I’m not going near you!”

“His?” She laughed. “You’re throwing our existence into danger over a little fling with some other male. You know he’ll abandon it on the first chance to mate. It’s just the pair of you coping with the needs of mating season.” She glanced around as if another merman would emerge at any second. “Where is he? Let’s see if he still chooses to be with you when he finally releases.”

“He’s not here.”

“Then I’ll just have to go fin-“

“STAY. AWAY. FROM MAKOTO!”

Haruka’s shout rang through the open air. None of them moved; Rin was frozen in place where he’d fallen off the merman, the mysterious female’s mouth dangling open. The ravenette was seething, ready to snap and throttle her if another word escaped her lips. His lips were still curled into a snarl, but his voice was even.

“Don’t you dare lay one finger on him. If I find out you, or anyone else, leave even one mark on him, I’ll make sure it’s the last thing you ever do. No one hurts Makoto. _No one._ So you’ve got one day to get out of my territory and never come back.”

The mermaid swallowed, eyes flickering between Rin and Haruka as she made up her mind. Finally, she dove back into the depths, leaving the two boys alone on the shore. Rin was at long last managing to regain function of his limbs. The merman turned back to him and their eyes met.

“Aren’t you going to punish me now?”

The words came out of nowhere, striking Rin dumb for what he was pretty sure was the third time in the last 20 minutes.

“Wh-what?” The merman shifted closer to him, lying down submissively at Rin’s feet.

“I hurt Makoto, even though I was doing my best to hold myself together. It doesn’t matter what you want to do, just do it. I deserve it.”

 Rin lifted a tentative hand. He’d wanted to pummel the merman since the moment he’d heard Makoto’s shaking voice until he’d be ready to crawl across the ground and beg Makoto for forgiveness. But he already was.

“Before I do anything, you’re telling me everything, and I mean _everything._ ”

The merman fidgeted, but nodded to Rin’s request.

“I guess I should start at the beginning then, shouldn’t I? Us merpeople, there aren’t many of us. We survive by staying hidden, so we our numbers can’t grow too large. But at the same time that means we have to be careful that we don’t disappear, which means we can’t be picky about mates. Every year during mating season females swim until they find all the males they can and mate with them. They’re never picky about it, just call you out, tease you until you agree, then leave as soon as it’s over.”

He swallowed before continuing. “For all of that time, we’re hyper sensitive. Even smelling another sends us into heat and we’re unable to calm down until we’ve found someone to release with. Because of that… I was trying to hold back around Makoto. He’s not a mermaid, but still… being around him was dangerous. I had to push him away once just to make sure I didn’t try and take him right there.”

Rin took a sharp inhale. “So when Makoto told me you were avoiding him…”

Haurka nodded. “I had to, to keep from doing something I’d regret. But today… today… that female’s been circling Iwatobi for days now spreading her scent, and Makoto came out of nowhere and I just… I…” his voice cracked. “I lost control. I woke up in heat and he was right beside me and before I knew it I’d come against him and h-he was cr-crying.” Fat droplets were falling from the merman’s cheeks as he began to shake.

“I… I hurt him… even though I was trying so hard to keep him safe… and now I c-can’t even face him. It’s b-better if he never sees me again.”

A hand rested itself on the merman’s shoulder. Rin’s. Misty eyes looked up at him. He was agonizing over this just as much over Makoto, even more if possible. The urge to tell him everything was okay, that he and Makoto could work things out started to swell up in his stomach, but he forced it down. He had to be the strong one, make sure his best friend was protected.

“Just how sorry are you about this?”

Haruka blinked in confusion.

“How far are you willing to go to apologize?”

The merman’s mouth fell open.

“I’d do anything…”

Rin nodded, sizing up what he was about to do.

“Three days,” he said. “Wait here three days. You can’t move from here to eat, to swim, for anything. If you’re still here on the third day, I’ll let you explain this all to Makoto, and he makes the final call. If he wants you gone, you never see him again, if he doesn’t want to talk, you don’t force him. Understand?”

Haruka nodded. “Three days.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This thing just keeps getting longer and longer and morphing with every chapter. I know it keeps twisting further away from the initial smut one shot it was but even though this section was really painful to put them through I'm really ready to build them back up slowly and have them closer then before
> 
> ((I actually felt sick for a day and a half working on this I felt so awful for them))


	6. Chapter 6

Haruka had never known time to pass so slowly. The minutes ticked by agonizingly, each lap of a wave on the coast a mocking taunt at his drying tail. He knew he deserved this much. Probably more. Definitely more. But at the same time this was the cruelest punishment, just him and his thoughts, alone, constantly reliving that one horrible moment over and over again in his head.

The whole agreement had seemed deceptively easy at first glance. It had started out comfortably enough, lying on the cool rocky shore, watching the clouds pass by overhead and processing everything Makoto’s friend had said. If he managed to do this he’d have a chance to apologize, explain why such a terrible thing had happened, hope it gave some small form of closure to them. More then he could have hoped for before he was tackled to the ground.

A cloud shaped like an oyster passed overhead, and Haruka pursed his lips. There was no guarantee they could repair things between them. He didn’t even know if Makoto would even want to, but in the very least, he could give them both closure on it, clear up the story before they decided once and for all where they stood. Even if Makoto wanted them to part for good, at least he’d get to see that gorgeous face one more time. And hopefully, that time, it wouldn’t be contorted in fear.

He’d rolled over, trying to shake the image out of his mind, that lovely calm face wearing an expression it never should have to, only to be confronted with the dark stain on the rocks beside him.

_That stain._

His throat had gone dry, stomach churning, willing itself to purge everything inside himself as that horrible reminder stared back at him. It was an ugly scar on their secret place, a hideous mark they’d both never forget, a constant reminder of his sins.

Unless… he could clean it off, purge the traces of his seed that were littered across the ground. Haruka swallowed down a breath, then another one. It had to go, it _had to_ if there was any hope of healing them. Cupping his hands he flung handful after handful of water at it before grabbing a mass of washed up seaweed and set to work.

He’d scrubbed until his fingers were scraped and raw, the whole of the little shore washed with the incoming tide until it was all the same shade of dark wetness, but still he continued. The afterimage was burned into his mind, taunting him, haunting him until at sunset he finally collapsed and held his bleeding fingers to his chest and fell into a fitful sleep.

Dreams were little better then waking. His eyes would fly open every hour, the image of Makoto’s terrified face imprinted on his eyelids. By the early dawn’s light he’d given up entirely for the night, watching the lights of the little fishing schooners flicker on in the harbor before starting their slow journey out to sea.

He’d remembered the day he’d asked Makoto about them, why they took so many fish, how something that large could move that fast, even why they’d throw perfectly good food back in the ocean. It had been late afternoon when they’d talked about it, Makoto’s hair taking on a golden sheen as he laughed before answering.

‘Well, you see, the fishermen aren’t just fishing for themselves and their families, they’re fishing for the whole town, sometimes for other towns even. They need those big boats to be able to carry that much back to port, and to move them they need big motors.’

Makoto had glanced at Haruka’s questioning look at the word motor before launching into an explanation that made no sense to the merman. Something about metal and oil and moving parts that made the stubby tail on the back of boats spin and push it. But that wasn’t what he’d been paying attention to. It had been the way Makoto’s lips moved to form those words, how his eyes sparkled in the dying light as he explained his world to Haruka, always watching to make sure he never lost him for long. He never denied an answer.

By comparison, Makoto knew so little about Haruka’s own world. He’d never jumped at the chance to explain how he slept or hunted, nor of how when he was eight his mother had left him with the Iwatobi pod to continue growing up on his own. There was no mention of seasonal events like the winter migration to warmer waters, the one time of year merpeople would meet aside from mating purposes.

No, Makoto had never pried into Haruka’s life. He knew part of it was respect for privacy, ensuring he never felt too exposed or too revealed to a species that tended to like to capture and poke new things with sticks. He’d always listened with keen interest whenever Haruka had offered up information of his own accord but still… there was that underlying gap that separated them.

And he might never get the chance to close it.

The second day was perhaps only minutely better then the first if only because his growling stomach helped distract him from darker thoughts. He’d rolled over as it made another loud protest at midday, giving it a steely glare as he reminded himself he’d lived for longer without food before splashing another handful of water on his tail. He could, and would keep going. It was the only way forward.

By the third and final morning he hardly had the strength to curse himself to agreeing to this. His gut was a pit of gnawing parasites, eating away at him from the inside as he stared up at the cliff face. The lack of food and water in his system kept him from moving, even to rewet himself in the heat of the sun. He was better off then other stranded sea mammals, but a far cry from okay. Three days of dehydration were finally taking their toll on his body. His skin was dry and heated, the scrapes on his fingers pulsing along with the building headache growing between his ears.

 _This is all for Makoto_ , he told himself as he drifted into half-sleep. _This is the least I can go through after what I put him through._

 

* * *

 

“Hey… hey fish-boy. Haruka, wake up! … Wait you’re not sick are you?”

Something that felt entirely too similar to a stick poked Haruka between the ribs. He opened his eyes slowly, squinting against the sun's glare to find the instigator of all this staring down at him. He couldn't remember the name though, but it was probably one of the "R" ones -there were 4 “R” ones- Makoto was always chattering about. Probably Ran. Yeah, Ran sounded right.

His voice came out as a croak from his parched throat. "Ran?"

Ran gave him a funny look before shoving a plastic bottle into his arms.

"You must be worse off then I thought if you think I'm Makoto's little sister. Jesus, I didn't actually think you'd stick to this so closely, did you even move from this spot in the last three days?" Not-Ran gestured to the bottle in his hands. "Drink it. You need it way more then me right now."

The bottle was wrapped in blue and white packaging, not unlike some litter he'd pick up off the ocean floor, and how he was supposed to drink it though was beyond him. Haru spent several seconds wrestling with it, attempting to bite a hole in it and get the liquid within, but he was too weak to do much more than tear the wrapper. Makoto's friend took it back with a roll of his eyes, and under Haru's careful watch twisted the skinniest part of it before passing it back, a large hole now at the top of the bottle.

He gave it a sniff; it smelled vaguely sweet, with a hint of artificial plant, but he was hardly in a state to refuse water of any kind. Within a minute he'd downed the entire bottle.

The hydration did him good. He could feel his head clearing slightly, the corners of his vision no longer hazed with a faint mist that had plagued him for the last two days. As the little cove came into better focus he looked around, behind Makoto's friend, even up the cliff...

"Where's Makoto?" the question fell out of his mouth before he realized how stupid he sounded. Makoto was clearly anywhere where he wasn't right now, but the redhead had made a deal and Haru had held up his side... His face twitched into a frown. "You promised I'd be able to see him if I waited 3 days." 

The boy shook his head, pulling out a small black object from his jacket. "I said I'd let you guys talk, but I didn't say anything about Makoto needing to do it in person.” A small square of light flared up on the item as he began pressing buttons on it.

Haruka opened how mouth to fight back, to cry unfair but was silenced before even one syllable left his lips.

"Do you really think he'd be comfortable seeing you right now?" Makoto's friend said, now raising the object to his ear. "Do you even know how shaken up he was after what you did to him? As much as I know the two of you need to actually sit down and _talk_ to each other I know seeing you right now isn't the right thing for him. If you care about him enough you won’t let it bo- Oi! Makoto!” 

R-name-that-wasn’t-Ran began to chatter away at the small black article, side-eying the merman as he spoke, forcing Haruka to wait patiently. He had a point, pushing Makoto into something he wasn’t ready to face was the wrong course of action, but if this was the last time they ever spoke, their final goodbye…

_I don’t want that to be my last memory of him. Just let me see his smiling face one last time… and I’ll let him go._

“Okay he’s ready.” Makoto’s friend thrust the object in Haru’s face, interrupting his train of thought. He took it gingerly, giving it a whiff as he mirrored the other’s actions.

_“Hello?”_

The voice was tinny and small, but there was no mistaking it.

He felt his throat seize up. “Makoto?” he managed to squeak out, “What are… how are you in this little thing… What’s…?”

There was a weak laugh from Makoto’s voice.

“Rin’s lent you his cell phone Haru. I’m not inside it, I’m using my own to talk to it.” The explanation was brief, leaving a dozen unanswered questions on his tongue, but he settled on the only one that mattered.

“How are you doing?” He pressed the phone closer to his ear, trying to paint the image of Makoto at this instant in his head. He could hear the uneasy rustling of fabric on the other side accompanied by a long breath.

“I’m okay… school’s been sort of busy, and the twins have been begging me to spend more time with them lately. A bit tired… but nothing that bad.”

He was lying, or more accurately, hiding the truth, trying to save face right now in front of Haruka. The merman pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Have you been having trouble sleeping?”

Makoto made a little ‘guh’ at the question. “Well… I was having trouble the other day, but Rin slept over last night and things were better… I didn’t fall asleep in class today…”

Listening to Makoto try to keep everything cheery was more painful then Haruka had imagined. Rin – not Ran – the human watching his every move right now, was so much better then he was. He’d protected him, comforted him, was even trying to give him closure. The merman met the redhead’s gaze.

“You’re really lucky to have a friend like him Makoto, he’s everything you could want in one.”

“Yeah… he is…” there was a heavy sigh before Makoto continued. “Look… Haru, why are you doing this?”

Haru’s breath caught.

“You’re the one that decided we should never see each other again, you couldn’t even say you cared about me … so why? Why are you doing this to me?”

He could see Makoto right now, the little quiver in his voice giving away how his eyes were growing moist, the way his voice grew slightly more distorted as he hugged the phone closer to his face. It hurt. It hurt so much to even know Makoto was feeling this way, had been feeling like this since he’d ruined everything between them.

“Makoto,” he croaked. “I know you’re not okay, even if you’re trying to hold everything together in front of everyone. Please…” he begged, “let’s stop hiding things from each other… it’s how we ended up here.” He waited, listening to the sharper breaths Makoto was making. “I don’t want to keep you in the dark anymore and hurt you again.”

There was a moment of silence, then-

“…Okay…” The word was so faint Haruka had to squeeze his eyes shut to hear it. “No Haru, I’m not okay. You scared me… you used me… and then you want to talk to me even though it was you who said we never should have met… I don’t even know what to think anymore.”

Haruka swallowed the lump in his throat.

“I know…” he managed. “That’s why I need to tell you everything, every little thing I should have told you before. I can’t blame you for hating me… and I’m not trying to make you change your mind, but please… please,” he begged, “just let me say them.”

The faintest of hums was his only acknowledgement. Taking it not to be a no he took a deep breath.

“I messed up. I messed up worse then I ever have before and I’ll never forgive myself for it. You’re special to me Makoto… you’re the first person I’ve ever been close to in my life… the number of names I’ve actually talked with… I could probably count on just my hands. Second to my mother, you’re the one I know the most in the world.

“You being that special, I had to keep you safe… especially right now.” He bit his lip. “You see, right now, for me… it’s mating season…”

He told Makoto everything, even more then he’d told Rin. Haru talked of the month where waters were beginning to cool, how females left their homes in search of mates. He told Makoto about the courtship, how impersonal and brief it was, like a business exchange packaged around a frantic 5 minutes of ecstasy between mermaid and merman. And he spoke of the heat, a mind-fogging lust that came within a moment’s notice of seeing or even smelling a mate. How it consumed every waking moment of your being until you could quench it. He curled up in shame, the marked rocks swimming before his vision.

“Do you remember that night? The one where you came to find me? It started maybe two days afterwards, and it wasn’t until I saw you again that I realized I didn’t feel normal around you. It was faint… but still there, that need to claim and release. I couldn’t let myself do that to you though…” His hand clutched his chest. This was far more then he was ever used to saying, more words then he’d speak aloud in a year… but it needed to be said. All of it.

“That first time, even though you said it was alright… you couldn’t walk straight after, I watched you stumble home. Even though we were careful…”

There was a whimper in his ear. Haruka forced himself to go on.

“I tried to keep my distance after that, to keep you safe from me, even if it meant pushing you away when all I wanted to do was hold you and be held. I had to. If you were tottering afterwards when I was in control, what would happen to you if I wasn’t?”

He bit down on his cheek. They both knew what this was leading to.

“I was caught off guard. It’s my fault, I should have avoided our place while in heat, but I didn’t. And now…. Now I…” his entire body was shaking now. “ _I let the last thing I ever wanted to happen to you happen. I-I… t-t-took you.”_

“Haru...” came Makoto’s voice. “Please… don’t make me remember.”

His stomach dropped to the base of his tail. Haru choked. He could feel the verge of tears coming.

“Sorry… I’m s-sorry… for-for everything.” Breaths were catching in his throat now. “I’m sorry I did t-that to you, sorry…sorry for…for pushing you away an-and hiding the tru-truth fr-from you.” He hugged himself tighter. “I’m sorry that… you ever had to meet me. I’m sorry I fell in love with you.”

It felt like his chest was going to burst. Between the tears in his eyes and the quivering of his lungs he was barely able to keep from keeling over.

“If… If I could take it all back… rewind… before any of this happened… I would… Anything… I’d d-do anything to go back to when you were smiling.” Haru pressed his head against the cool stone. “ _Is there any way we can start again from the beginning_?”

Silence. Nothing but silence from Makoto. Not even the sound of his breaths rising and falling, no rustle of fabric. Not a sound came from the little black box.

And then a low tone, endless and mechanic. No pauses for air, no drop in tone. Haru ripped the phone from his ear.

**_Call Ended._ **

“Makoto?” he whimpered. “ _Makoto?_ ”

A shadow fell upon him, then a hand gripped his trembling palm. Haruka lifted his head to see Rin shaking his head.

“It’s over Haruka. Makoto hung up on you. What did he say to you?”

It was like his body was drowning, but he was on land. White noise was filling up his ears, limbs turning to lead, but what did it matter anymore what was happening to his body?

“Nothing. He said nothing…” Before he knew it he’d flung himself against Rin’s lap, letting his grief take control of him. It was over, they were over, and he’d never see Makoto ever again. He’d never get to watch that giant body timidly wade into the waiting tides, or that warm smile that took place of the sun. Never again would he hear that warm voice, like the gentle wrap of a mother’s arms.

“-aru..”

He’d never hear it explain the wonders of the surface world, or shyly try to prod about the submerged one.

“Haruka!”

Never again-

 _“Haru!”_ There was a clamoring somewhere above him, the sounds of falling pebbles and panting breaths. He could feel Rin’s hands, gently lifting him, turning him towards it, the figure on the ledge above swimming before his view.

“Me too,” came that voice. “I want to start over again too.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the full effect have "Painful Incident" and "Say Something" playing on loop like I had when writing this chapter
> 
> ((also on a less sad note [lesfrites](http://lesfrites.tumblr.com/post/78578743291/i-guess-its-my-turn-now-dolphin-dick-porn-based) and [Edenfire57](http://craigalicious-edenfire57.tumblr.com/post/78312440790/so-i-finally-drew-fanart-for-teicakes-amazing) drew fan art <3))


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M SORRY THIS TOOK FOREVER TO UPDATE. I ran into writer's block, midterms, 14 foot walls to climb… so long story short this is long overdue. Slowly easing out of the darker arc and back into lighter territories, we'll see where it heads out to from here.

Makoto was bent over double, head between his knees gasping for breath after breath while the pair below him looked up in mute shock. Rin was wearing a face that was best summed up as ‘I-could-have-sworn-I-saw-this-coming-and-yet-I-didn’t’, smooshing Haruka’s cheeks into that of a stupefied guppy. The merman remained frozen, staring at the figure before him.

“Makoto?” Haruka croaked in disbelief.

Makoto lifted his head slightly, giving a small nod. “Yeah…” he breathed.

He’d come. He’d actually come here, against all odds, against every bad dream and painful train of thoughts. Makoto was standing there in front of him; sweat dripping from his brow, the faintest traces of a smile dusting his face. Haru felt the breath catch in his throat.

_He’d come back._

Fresh tears were welling up, he’d lost track of how many times he’d cried in the past week, but this time it wasn’t from self loathing or depression. A wet bubble rose in his throat, bursting from his lips.

“You came…” he said. The words took more impact with every syllable he spoke. “You came back… even after that. You don’t hate me…” A shaky laugh racked his body, relief flooding his veins even as he felt his body weaken. It was like a lifetime’s worth of burdens had fallen from his shoulders, his chest finally remembering a time where it wasn’t weighed down with remorse. He sagged against Rin, but didn’t let his gaze waver for a second from Makoto. “I’m so… happy.”

He could feel his eyelids flicker, the scene around him grow hazy yet again. A distant shout from Makoto cut through the fog clouding his mind.

“What’s wrong with him? Why is he? Is he hurt?”

Without opening his eye he knew what Makoto was doing; fidgeting on the ledge, battling the urge to check on his safety as his new caution towards the merman held him back.

“I’m okay,” he mumbled, even as rough arms scooped him off the ground and up into the air. He twisted in the grip, the feeling of being held away from land and sea far too foreign to him, only to have hands squeeze him tighter, and the voice of Makoto’s friend call out from above him.

“He’s just been out of the water for a while. Dehydrated I think. He’ll be better if I put him back in the ocean.”

There was the sound of scraping feet and Makoto’s voice was suddenly closer.

“How long has he been out of the water for?”

Rin’s nervous swallow filled the silence between the trio.

“Three days?”

“Three… three days?” Haruka could hear the gears turning in Makoto’s head. “But that’s… that’s since… but… but why?”

Haruka pressed a hand against the redhead’s chest, forcing himself to focus his eyes on the brunette before him.

“Because I needed to say I’m sorry.”

Makoto looked down at Haru’s face in disbelief. “Wait. But how does that…?”

He could feel himself lowered now, his tail flukes dipping into the delicious coolness of the ocean. A shiver of pleasure ran up his spine as Rin slid the rest of his body in. The change of environment was well received, he feelings of heatstroke and exhaustion dissipating as he felt his core temperature lower. Haruka took a second to dip his head, shaking stray droplets on the two humans before finally managing to fix his gaze.

“Rin said if I ever wanted a chance to apologize to you I had to wait here for three days. No leaving.”

“Not even to eat?”

Haru shook his head, sinking lower until only his eyes were above water. The ocean felt _so_ good.

Makoto shot a glare at the other boy. “Rin… he could have gotten seriously weak, die even!”

The boy shifted uncomfortably. “Well, I’m not saying that I wasn’t going to let him suffer for what he did…”

“But you didn’t want him dead, did you?” Makoto was mortified now.

Rin blanched. “No! Of course not! I needed to know I could actually trust him enough to let him within two miles of you! I thought he might sneak off in the nights when he thought I wouldn’t come check on him, but he stayed here the entire time!”

“I told you,” repeated Haruka, “it was necessary.”

“But…” started Makoto.

Haruka leaned forward, chin on the rocks by the two humans’ feet. A hand reached out towards Makoto’s but stopped early, a miniature wave of salt water bridging the gap between them. “I did something awful. I _needed_ someone to punish me for it to even think about forgiving myself.”

“And you took Rin’s suggestion of nearly drying yourself out?”

“Hey!” shot Rin defensively. “He _asked_ me to punish him. As soon as he realized I was after him for messing with you he didn’t even try to struggle.” Haru nodded in attestment. “Look, as much as I wanted to give him a good kick in the nuts for what he did I knew neither of you would move on from this without getting some closure from it. So instead of taking the low road I got him to punish himself and think about what he did wrong until I thought he was ready to apologize to you.”

“But three days?”

“To be fair I did accept it myself,” piped in Haru. “He didn’t chain me here or anything.”

Rin blew a stray strand of hair out of his face. “See? He knew what he was getting into when he agreed to it.” Makoto gave the pair an apprehensive look, as if not quite sure they’d both managed to agree on the whole idea. Haruka let his fingers cross the gap between them, the pad of his index brushing up against Makoto’s pinky.

“If it meant seeing you again, I would do it.”

The brunette’s entire face seemed to bloom with blush. He began to stutter, hand trembling, but making no attempt to break the gentle skin contact between them.

“Wait… Does that mean... You… so you…?”

Haru looked up at him, deadpanned and serious. _Hadn’t he already said it?_

Rin gave a nod, wrapping one arm around Makoto’s shoulders. Haruka felt a prick of jealousy knot inside him, only to fade in an instant. Touching wasn’t something he and Makoto should be doing right now.

“It seems like fish-boy is dead serious about you.” He gave the mahogany locks an affectionate ruffle.

Makoto looked back at Haruka, voice trembling slightly. “So it’s true? You really want to start over?”

The merman shifted bashfully. “More then anything.”

He chanced a glance upwards. Makoto was biting his lip, eyes darting between Haruka and Rin. Expectant stares followed every swing of his head, his ears growing more and more flushed until Rin finally grabbed him by the crown and stopped Makoto from pulling his neck out.

“Do want that?” he snapped. Makoto hesitated. Haruka’s breath caught as Makoto gave him a sideways look, then nodded. Rin sighed, but loosened his grip on the boy’s head. “If you’re careful…and I get to keep an eye on you two… I guess I’m okay with you being around each other.”

The two nearly fell into the water as Makoto tackled Rin into a hug.

* * *

They’d planned it out, the first time Makoto and Haruka were allowed to be together, right down to a T. It was a simple beach barbeque, with squid and sausages and mackerel Haruka had insisted on bringing (probably because he was feeling left out as the two other boys discussed shopping). They’d be on land, in the humans’ element, and Rin would be there to make sure no funny business happened. It had seemed perfectly simple when they planned it.

He hadn’t expected to encounter this.

Rin had arrived early, shopping bag of meat and matches in one hand, backpack slung over the opposite shoulder. The beach they were supposed to meet on was a scraggly little one, with large breakwater boulders dividing it from the private property on the other side.

Amongst the barnacle covered rocks, visible only by the tip of his head, was the merman.

“Oi!” Rin shouted, only to watch as Haruka bolted upright, eyes panicking as he realized who had called. He frantically waved the redhead over, head swiveling like an owl’s as he checked for signs of Makoto.

“Makoto’s be held up a bit,” offered Rin as he came within earshot, “should only be about another 20 minutes.” Haruka would not stop fidgeting, still looking around uncomfortably as Rin climbed the rock that separated them. “What’s wrong with you fish-boy?”

Haruka shot him a look.

“Whale-tail?”

The glare lessened slightly, Haruka’s shoulders easing up slightly. He gestured to a small pile of fish in front of him, scales glossy and eyes clear. “I brought mackerel...” He mumbled. That didn’t seem to be what was making him so jumpy though. Even after showing off his catch he continued glancing around, slowly worming backwards towards the water.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Rin stepped between Haruka and the waves, blocking his only exit. The merman made an attempt to get around only to land face first in a patch of sand. A mashed voice broke through Rin’s failed attempts at hiding his chuckling.

“I can’t see Makoto today.”

Rin nearly dropped his bag of groceries.

“ _WHAT?”_ he sputtered. “After everything that happened? After you fucking _begged_ to see him just one more time? What the hell!”

Haruka hung his head low, making direct eye contact with Rin’s sneakers.

“I found a scent pocket.”

“A what?”

“ _Her_ scent pocket. A leftover one.” There was a touch of bitterness in his words, so he was probably referring to the mermaid who’d been overly keen on knocking him out and doing the horizontal – wait did mermaids do it horizontal? – nasty. Rin’s lips drew into a thin line.

“I thought she was gone.” The last thing he wanted was having to put up with another anomaly of the natural world.

Haruka nodded, a whimper –an actual whimper – slipping past his throat. “Me too. But her scent isn’t yet. “

Rin’s long fingers ran through his hair. “But if she’s gone, what the heck is your iss-ssuueeeee…”

His question trailed off as Haruka lifted what Rin now realized was a strategically placed hand. At the base of where tan melded to grey was a small pink bloom. And… _oh god…_ it was twitching… that was… to had to be…

“Please don’t tell me that’s what I think it is,” Rin said, voice pitched just a little bit too high for him to be okay with the present situation.

Haruka pulled his tail into his chest, covering the offending member. “It is,” he groaned, “and I can’t calm it down. _I can’t see Makoto like this!_ ”

Rin was trying to keep his breathing in check. There was a semi-aroused merman right in front of him, a rather strong one, who in some way or another had already had sex with a human before… and wasn’t going to calm down until he-

“Stop freaking out already. I’m not interested in you.”

_Oh. Well that was a small comfort there._

He watched as the mermaid chewed his lip, nervously glancing towards the beach every few seconds. He could phone Makoto, tell him Haruka was sick and wasn’t up for today, but that would just turn on his friend’s full-blown mothering mode… He could tell him the truth… but at the same time, that wasn’t exactly going to instill any confidence in this weird-as-fuck relationship for any of them.

“Can’t you… you know… take care of it?” Rin asked.

Haruka gave him a puzzled look. “Take care of it?”

“Well, uh,” Rin tried to search for the right words. “Blow off some stem, yank the hose, have a hand-some…” _oh god that last one why did he even say that?_ “…Y’know… masturbate?”

The merman continued to look at him as if he was speaking ancient Greek.

“Mass-turb-eight?”

It was Rin’s turn to stare at the other in disbelief. How the _hell_ had Haruka never jerked off before? He opened his mouth, ready to ramble off another list of slang terms, but stopped himself halfway through the word ‘fapping’. He was talking to someone that thought you packed people into cell phones.

 Rin let out a long sigh. “I mean grabbing your dick in your hand and pumping it until you come. _That’s_ what I’m asking if you can do.”

Haruka looked down at his crotch and then back up at Rin.

“But it’s supposed to go in a hole? A hand isn’t a hole.”

Rin was one more dumb statement away from ripping his hair out. How the _fuck_ did Makoto get him wrapped up in giving his boyfish lessons on being a horny teenager?

Haruka watched with interest as Rin ripped his backpack off his shoulders, shucking pens and goggles around before flinging a ball of fabric his way. He fumbled, but caught it, turning the object about in his fingers. With a bit of picking it split into two identical strips, not unlike white, flaccid sea cucumbers. They even had a hole at one end.

He looked up at Rin expectantly. “What are these?”

The redhead stared down at him, clearly unimpressed with his knowledge of human objects. “They’re socks.”

“So?”

Rin facepalmed. “Just… use it, okay?”

“For what?” There was a growing red mark on the boy’s face, even brighter now as he slapped himself again in frustration.

“Use it to wank off so you’re no longer half-thinking with your penis…” Haruka returned another blank look at him. Rin mimed a motion, fist moving up and down a finger vigorously, but the meaning behind it was lost to him. He tried replicating it with the sock, floppy fabric sliding between his fingers but really doing nothing to solve his problem.

“It’s not working.”

Smoke was practically shooting out of Rin’s ears now.

“ _JUST SHOVE YOUR DICK IN IT AND DEAL WITH THAT THING ALREADY!”_

He stormed off, leaving Haruka to figure out what teenage boys around the world already knew how to do by heart.

* * *

“I’m sorry I was so late guys, Nagisa kept asking me where I was heading and why he and Rei couldn’t come.” Makoto hung his head and turned his squid in the flames. It had taken some time to get Haruka to approach the fire pit, then a mad scramble to keep the merman from burning himself trying to touch it. Haru had eventually learned that fire was for cooking and watching only, he was now entranced with watching the dancing flames before him, golden flickers reflecting in his dark eyes.

“I finally managed to convince him to head home with Rei and Gou after I told him you were treating me for all the ocean swimming. But now he’s made me promise to go out for ice cream with the team tomorrow. Ah well,” he sighed. “Oh Haru! The squid is done!” He gingerly passed the skewer over to his right.

Haru tucked in, watching with a hint of a smile in his eyes as Makoto pulled one of his mackerel out of the fire as well. Rin rolled his eyes over a sausage as the pair in front of him continued to awkwardly steal glances at each other.

“Looks like stuff like this is going to become a habit, isn’t it?”

Makoto looked up, a dusting of scales on his top lip. “Is that a bad thing Rin? I know you have to come by train and all, but since you suggested this… I guess if it’s a hassle you don’t have to worry about joining us?”

The redhead barely held back a snort. “Nah, it’s not that. Coming out to see you doesn’t bother me.” _It’s going to be watching you two tiptoe around each other for weeks on end without realizing you’re both thinking the same thing will drive me up the wall, that’s what_ , he thought to himself. Hopefully though they’d get better at figuring each other out.

“Oh! Rin!” piped up Makoto. “Did you remember to bring back the socks you borrowed the other week?”

Rin choked on his sausage, Haruka bolting upright in shock as his eyes bored into the redhead’s. There was the smallest of nods, leaving Haruka flushing behind his stick of squid as Rin rattled off a shaky tale of them getting lost amongst his roommate’s overflowing collection of useless junk.

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 80% of the ideas for this come at times I'm only 30% conscious I'm sorry Rin deserves the 'put up with all your shit' award of the century


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this took so long, and it's not even too much of a plot filled chapter asdfad but I need to go through a bit of filler bore getting to the part i REALLYYYY want to write

“A moo-vee?”

“Oh, right,” Rin pulled a crinkling bag of something out as he and Makoto set out some towels on the sand, “You’ve never seen one before. What are we watching Makoto?”

Makoto looked up from searching his bag. “Well, I have a couple saved on my laptop so you guys can pick. I have that new action film that came out last month, a few classics, and a couple animated one too.” He pulled out a large flat slab, flipping it open just like a mussel.

Haruka was instantly by his side.

“How did…” he started to ask, gingerly moving the top half of the shell up and down. It was stiff, enough that the shell held any position you moved it to, but not as much as the live clams he’d wrestled with in the past.

There was a chuckle from beside him, Makoto’s gentle hands carefully reopening the item and pressing a button. “I guess it looks a bit like a shell, doesn’t it?” The top half of the shell suddenly lit up and startled Haru. “But it’s not one… Haru it’s not going to hurt you don’t click at it.”

The merman let the lip he’d curled up to flash his teeth drop back down, but still kept a safe distance between him and the foreign object. Rin gave him a playful shove and opened the bag he held.

“Yeah, laptops are about as vicious as a rock, calm down.” Haruka gave him a distrusting look. Rin’s response was a roll of his eyes as he sat down between the pair. “Think of it like a tool that can store a bunch of information and pictures. It can’t do anything without someone telling it what to do.”

Makoto gave a nod of agreement as his fingers began pressing more buttons on the bottom of the laptop. The image on the top half changed from blue to white. “So what are we going to watch?”

Rin leaned over, nose practically within the jaws of the ‘harmless’ item. “Ugh.. well, I don’t think Lord of the Rings is a good idea, we’ll spend most of it explaining all the mythology to dolphin-boy here…Catch Me if You Can… not bad but it’s kinda historical we’d have to go over some things with him… _why do you have The Notebook on here anyway?_ ”

“M-my mom asked me to download it for her!” stuttered Makoto, quickly hitting several more buttons. “It’s a good movie…”

Rin shrugged, eating a handful of puffy, white octopus-shaped items and selecting another item on the list. “Let’s just watch one of these Ghibli movies, the stories are good and we won’t have you freaking out like with a horror film. Ponyo?”

The concept of a movie still hadn’t been explained to Haru, nor the strange food Rin was offering him right now. He was starting to feel lost amongst all the human culture around him, the ease the two boys with him handled it only made him feel worse. Instinctively he found himself curling in on himself, weakly shoving the offered bag.

Makoto looked up from the strange clam-shell laptop.

“Haru, are you okay?” His voice wavered, eyebrows knitting together as he looked to Haruka. The merman shuffled awkwardly.

“ ‘s nothing.”

Makoto paused, one hand hovering in the air midway between his laptop and reaching out for Haruka. He seemed to think better of it, pulling back and accepting the bag of food. It took everything in Haruka to pretend he didn’t care, face thoroughly burrowed in his bangs.

There was still the gap between them. Every hint of it he saw only served to make him feel worse.

A sudden touch on the shoulder made him jump. The sounds of crinkling paper and rustling clothes accompanied the press of a warm shoulder against his own.

“Are we overwhelming you a bit too much?” Makoto’s lush eyes were only inches away from his own. The boy gave him a reassuring squeeze mid-tail. “You know you can just say so.”

He puffed his cheeks at that last remark. It was easy for Makoto to say that, not feeling out of his element in the least. Rin had explained to him, several times in fact, that if he was ever going to patch things up the last thing he was supposed to do was make Makoto uncomfortable (there were also a few choice words of sailor language involved with their talks, probably for emphasis). But learning about humans… about Makoto… it wasn’t always bad.

Makoto took a few puffed octopi, popping them in his mouth and chewing with that smile that never sufficed to speed Haruka’s heartbeats.

“What should I go over first?”

A jet of air blasted the brunette’s bangs off his face, the dolphin giving him a look that was half annoyance half gratefulness. One hand reached out to point at the bag in Makoto’s hands.

“Can we start with the fake baby octopi?”

* * *

 

It took nearly twenty minutes, half the intro to the movie, and three quarters of the bag of popcorn to catch Haruka up to speed on everything. While he still didn’t quite grasp the whole concept of a computer (he kept asking about whether or not there were tiny beings bringing the information from mini stores and in the end Makoto agreed it was something like that), he seemed to have taken a liking to popcorn, regardless of the fact it contained no fish.

Makoto was now part way through explaining what _animation_ was, versus the few regular movies Rin had started only to change his mind a minute in before finally settling on _Ponyo._ Haruka had easily accepted they weren’t real, but the idea of them being _created by ink and paper_ had him baffled.

They were on the scene now when Ponyo had grown legs, running across the backs of giant fish as she tried to catch the little boy’s attention. The merman blew a loud raspberry.

“Fish don’t grow that big. And water doesn’t have eyes. Don’t humans know anything about the ocean?”

Rin – now that the popcorn had been confiscated from him – was in the process of stuffing his face with chips. He sucked the barbeque coating off his thumb, giving Haruka a sidelong glare.

“ ‘course we do. We just don’t live in it 24/7 like you do so we tend to make a few things up here and there.”

“It’s make-believe,” added Makoto. “Most people know it’s not real, but we like the escape from reality sometimes.” _Kind of like meeting you_ , he thought to himself.

“Hey,” mumbled Rin through another fistful of chips, “can you do the leg thing… y’know, magically grow them and become human?”

Haruka chewed thoughtfully on a piece of popcorn, seriously contemplating the question. It was hard not to think about the idea, how maybe… one day he could bring Haruka around on land, show him everything there was away from the coast. Walking hand in hand, taking him to watch movies in the theatres… things regular couples did. If it was possible…

Makoto’s thoughts were interrupted as Haruka finally swallowed.

“Can humans grow tails?”

Rin blinked. “Well, no.” He wiggled his toes at the merman. “ _Duh_.”

His comment was returned with the flattest expression Makoto had ever seen anyone ever make, he had to hold back laughing at how serious Haruka looked.

“Then you have your answer. You can’t just magically grow legs or a tail.”

“ _Frogs can!”_ pouted Rin.

“Frog? Is that another human guess about animals of the ocean?”

“No! It’s an animal that starts out as a fish and grows legs when it’s an adult! Ask Makoto, they’re real!”

“And humans have two brains and a set of invisible arms.”

“Do not!”

“Says you!”

The pair bickered back and forth, bits of chips and popcorn flung to and fro as Makoto could hardly do anything other than watch and duck pieces of food. It was like watching Ren and Ran fight over who was better at drawing or monopoly, always ending in cute shouting matches just like this one.

He waited until there was a slight lull in their protests, Haruka having run out of popcorn to throw, before calmly separating the two.

“Rin’s right, frogs do exist, but that doesn’t mean he has to rub it in Haru’s face. Seriously, you two are just as bad as my little siblings…”

The comparison stopped the duo in their tracks. Rin still had a handful of chips raised, ready to throw. Stray flecks of popcorn were matted into Haruka’s bangs. They sheepishly looked at Makoto before hastily sitting back down as if they’d never turned into giant 5 year olds.

The rest of the movie went by surprisingly okay, neither Haruka not Rin made another attempt to start a debate over what was and wasn’t imaginary, settling instead to each taking one of Makoto’s shoulder’s. By the time the credits were rolling Rin had fallen asleep, snorting every couple of minutes to confirm he was, in fact, alive.

Haruka shifted, startling him somewhat, but he still somehow managed to keep from dropping Rin.

“Makoto?” His voice was groggy, no doubt just as tired as Rin.

“Yeah Haru?”

“Do you… do you want wish the story was real? That I’d become human?”

Makoto chewed his lip, pulling Haruka off his shoulder and into his chest.

“It’s hard to say…” he managed, fighting back images of another universe where he and Haru grew up together, knew everything there was to know about one another, could speak with just a glance. But needing Haruka to change everything he was to do that…

His silence seemed to be putting the merman on edge, the usually fluid body suddenly stiffer in his arms.

“I want to understand you more than I do now,” he said, absent-mindedly straightening Haru’s hair. “If we were both from the same place it’d be easy. We could see each other more. We wouldn’t have to worry about other people finding you, we wouldn’t have to explain everything to each other.” His hand stilled. “But I don’t think I want that. I like learning more about you each day, I want to know more…”

Haruka twisted his neck to see his face.

“So you… you don’t mind that I’m like this?”

Makoto couldn’t help but smile at the worried pout on Haru’s face.

“Nope.  You’re actually really cute when you don’t understand things.”

He earned a slap on the chest for that, Rin snorting himself awake with all the fineness and grace of an overweight pug. He gave the couple with him one of those knowing looks, the type a chaperone gives their charges telling them they’d better not be up to anything past a PG rating, before closing Makoto’s laptop and getting to his feet.

“Well… It’s getting late, and we should be getting home soon. Mako, you want to pack up the stuff? I need to chat with Haruka for a second.”

The merman jerked up a little bit, shuffling over to the water’s edge as Makoto watched their backs.

“So,” muttered Rin, making sure Makoto wasn’t able to overhear them. “About that problem from the other week, is it solved?”

Haruka cocked his head to the side, trying to think it over. After that day with the sock he’d made a point to avoid any place he’d run into a scent pocket before, deciding to wait for the next moon before trying to return there again. It reduced his hunting grounds a bit, but compared to the hassle of encountering pheromones in the last few days of the heat cycle it was nothing. He’d found himself aroused twice since then, both occasions at night while thinking about Makoto’s body, how it looked as he sliced through the water and how he let little whimpers slip past his lips as they kissed. The socks had been pretty effective at dealing with it though. He still felt slightly embarrassed over using something of Makoto’s like that, but if it meant it would help him from being distracted when they met he could handle it.

He’d been lost in thought for some time now, Rin still waiting for a reply. Clearly, by his frantic miming of coping with heat, he thought Haruka was having trouble even remembering what that issue had been. He decided to watch for a few more seconds, Rin growing more flustered by the second, before finally letting him off the hook.

“In another few days it won’t even be an issue. It’s not anywhere near as bad as it was at it’s peak, more that if it happens I’m distracted until I find something I can force my focus onto.”

The redhead was clearly relieved.

“Still, don’t go about doing anything rash until Makoto’s ready.” He leaned closer, mouth up against the shell of Haruka’s ear. “And don’t you dare try anything farther than hand holding with him. Don’t even think about walking down that path until he’s ready.”

Haruka bobbed his head in agreement. “Not until Makoto wants it to happen.”

“Exactly, let him set the pace. I don’t think he’s ready to relinquish control of everything quite yet,”

Haruka was about to open his mouth, mention how it was Rin more than either him or Makoto that was worried about who held control of the situation, when Makoto waved at the pair of them.

“I’ve packed everything up, even cleaned up the mess you two made. Are you guys done yet?”

“Almost!” shouted Rin. He spun back to Haru one last time.

“Just… don’t hurt him.” His voice was barely a whisper. “He’s my best friend, and I know he tries to hide everything that bothers him. I don’t want to see him cry.”

Haruka felt his mouth twitch at its corners. They really weren’t so different from each other at the end of it.

“I’ll do everything I can.”

 

 


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> managed to squeak finishing this in between exams >

His phone was staring at him, imposing, taunting him, seemingly shouting out how he’d never have the guts to do this. The twins were playing in the other room, screaming excitedly over something that happened in the latest episode of their anime (no doubt acting it out presently and only a few short minutes from roping him into it to play the bad guy).

He took a deep breath and punched in the number. Makoto’s gut twisted into four different balloon animals and a pretzel before the person on the other line picked up.

“Mako?” came a groggy voice. “Why are you phoning me this early, _hell why are you even up this early?_ ”

“Sorry…” he said as he gripped his comforter. Rin was clearly not in the mood to be a morning person today, even if every other day he was up at the crack of dawn to go running. “You sound awful, what happened?”

“Mikoshiba’s got us on hell week practices right now, and to top it off he upped my set numbers for skipping out on practice the other week. I was up until 2 last night soaking my aching limbs and trying to keep them from cramping up.” There was a groan from the earpiece. “ _That_ clearly didn’t happen. Anyway, what’s so important that you’re up before noon?”

“Ah, well…” Makoto stopped to think. His original plan had been to ask Rin over and head out to lunch with him as thanks, but if Seijuurou had been that hard on him yesterday…

“I was going to ask if you wanted to come out to Iwatobi and hang out, but I guess that’s off the table then.”

“Damn right it is. Unless you’re planning to come to Samezuka with a bag of muscle relaxants before practice tonight I’m not seeing you.” There was a shuffling sound from Rin’s side, no doubt adjusting to another position to stretch his legs out. “But Makoto… if you were just wanting to hang out you’d have texted me about it. What’s the other part of this?”

Makoto was glad for once Rin wasn’t there with him. He was horrible at hiding things with his face; his ears were probably a nice shade of crimson as he fought back the surprise of Rin seeing through him so easily.

“Well, uh, I also sorta wanted to, well, drop something off for Haru.”

He squeezed his eyes shut. Without even looking he knew Rin had cocked his eyebrow in disbelief at that request. It was out of the question. Without Rin there as a mother hen (he was surprisingly good at that role despite his insistence) there was no way he’d be allowed to go.

There was a long sigh, more shuffling as Rin undoubtedly rolled onto his side.

“You’re just popping by to drop something off and go? You’re not going to go off to some abandoned ship wreck with him for some deep heart to heart?”

Makoto nodded dumbly, not remembering until the 6th head bob Rin couldn’t actually see him and finally adding an “mmhmm” to his imitation of an amused cockatoo.

“Fine,” came Rin’s grumbling voice. “I suppose I should start giving your dolphin-boy a bit more credit. Just text me after you leave.”

A wide grin spread across his face.

“Got it!” he laughed, bouncing on his bed just as Ran poked her head through his door. She and Ren wandered in shyly, grabbing his free arm and leading him towards their playroom. “Thanks dad.”

“Oh shut up,” snorted Rin.

* * *

There was no guarantee Haruka would be on the ledge in their little secret cove, and Makoto wasn’t exactly in the mood to go for a swim today, so if the merman wasn’t there he’d just have to wait until the next time Rin could come out for a visit. But as he ducked under the last few branches and out to the rocky ledge Haruka’s familiar mop of black hair came into view.

He couldn’t help but swallow an involuntary bubble of recollection. He hadn’t come back here alone since, well, _then_ , and repeating that experience was the last thing on his to do list.

But his worries ebbed away as Haru turned to face him at the sound of approaching footsteps and gave a little gasp of surprise. Seeming to realize he’d let his guard down so much the merman turned his head, no doubt in embarrassment over being so unaware of everything around him.

Makoto slid down the small cliff face, careful to keep the small package in his hands hidden beneath his jacket. Haruka was lounging on his stomach, tail flukes draped in the lapping waves. His blue eyes followed the brunette as he clambered over a wayward patch of weed, finally shifting up to a seated position when Makoto crouched down next to him.

His small nose wrinkled. “Why are you here? And where’s Rin?” The two of them had become a package deal since the start of the month, and regardless of how much Rin liked to annoy him he’d come to almost enjoy seeing him.

Okay not that much though.

“Rin’s a bit too sore to do anything other than complain right now, but he said I could stop by on my own now.”

That caught Haruka’s attention. Rin was okay with the two of them being alone now? He shook his head a little. No, it wasn’t quite that, more probably that this was the next step he was okay with them taking, seeing if they could still be comfortable around each other even without a third wheel circling around them. _Like it wasn’t more comfortable that way in the first place._

“Haru, you okay?”

Haruka’s train of thought was broken, realizing that he’d been pondering over Rin’s sudden decision for a little too long for a polite human-length pause.

“I’m fine. Why are you here though?”

“Oh, well, I kinda wanted to…” Makoto was wrestling with his clothes now (Haru had since learned that if it wasn’t the same colour as the face it was probably clothes), “… wanted to bring you something, y’know, after you were all curious about it the other day.

After a bit more wrestling with himself and Haruka having to help him extract a hand from a tangle behind his back Makoto managed to extract the small plastic bag from where he’d hidden it.

Haruka wasn’t exactly sure how to interpret it.

“Isn’t that one of those bag things dumb turtles eat?”

Makoto looked down sheepishly.

“Ah, well, yeah… but the bag’s not the important part… look at what’s inside!”

The merman took the package from him, warmth skirting across his skin as their fingertips brushed against one another’s. He peeled back the white plastic sack.

Inside was a square object, hardly larger than his head and slightly thinner than the sting rays he’d see every spring in the hunting grounds. A small stick fell out of the bag as he pulled it out, only noticing then how it was a collection of smaller, thinner sheets stuck together. Human symbols covered the front.

“Wa – wat-er pruu… proof…” he tried to sound the symbols out. There was only so much of human tongue he’d been taught over the years, and writing had been more or less restricted to recognizing dangerous boats or sunken ones. His brow furrowed in frustration.

“Waterproof notebook,” finished Makoto for him with a smile. No attention was paid to how illiterate Haruka felt in that moment, instead Makoto tried to turn Haruka’s attention to the first page of the book.

“I was at the mall the other day – oh right, well a mall is where humans get things they need – and I found this at the stationary store. It’s not totally waterproof, I mean, I don’t think you can swim with it underwater and expect it to stay in perfect condition, but the pages won’t disintegrate if they get wet.”

Haruka flipped to the first page. On it grey lines made out three rough shapes. The first was a _very_ crude interpretation of a fish, the second was either a dying shark or a mutilated dolphin, and the third…

“I’m sorry, the twins wanted to help, and I’m not that good…”

It wasn’t perfect, far from it in fact, but the similarities were there. The shape of his hair, the spacing of his eyes (though he was quite sure they didn’t look cross-eyed all the time), even a semi-decent rendition of his tail...  

“Is this…?”

“Yeah,” mumbled Makoto from behind a hand. “It’s supposed to be you. You seemed really interested the other day about the whole concept of drawing, so I decided to find a way for you to try it. I brought a pencil for you too.” He pointed at the little wooden stick.

“Can I…?”

“Please! Go ahead!” Makoto eagerly jumped forward, taking Haruka’s hand and the pencil in his own. Learning how to hold it took a fair degree of fumbling, Haruka literally trying _every other grip_ except the right one, and it most _definitely_ wasn’t because he was enjoying every second of skin contact with Makoto. The way those warm hands gently tugged his fingers in place, how they slid perfectly between his own every time he pulled away to check if Haruka understood. Even that patient smile, gradually being accompanied more and more with awkward laughter as Haruka continued to defy all attempts to hold a pencil properly made him want to keep this little game going for as long as possible.

But at last he gave in, letting the shaft fall in the groove between thumb and forefinger, and began to take a few tentative strokes. His lines weren’t long or straight, but he could slowly stack them up until they were the shape he wanted. Within no time he was fully absorbed in the task.

Makoto crawled around the book until he was opposite from Haruka and, pulling out a pencil of his own, began to draw in the opposite corner. Their hair brushed against each other’s, faces equally as close to each other as the page beneath them. It was… comfortable. Like it was something they’d always done together since the day they were born, as easy as swimming.

It was an hour and another poorly drawn Haru later before he even realized how long it had been. He finally took his eyes off his own artwork to check out Haru’s.

He hadn’t expected _THAT_.

Despite never having held a pen before today Haruka had managed an _incredibly_ realistic drawing of a mackerel (at least, Makoto _thought_ it was a mackerel).

“HOW?”

Haruka looked up, face as calm as if he’d always possessed godly art skills.

“What?”

“Just… holy cow Haru I had no idea you’d be this good.” Makoto chewed his lip self consciously, his own horribly proportioned drawing looking even less appealing then it had 5 minutes ago.

Haruka seemed to pick on this, turning the book over to examine it closer.

“This is really good, especially considering how long you’ve known me compared to how long I’ve known mackerel.” Makoto wanted to hug him for how cute that comment was. “It’s only been a few months, but you’re already this good.”

He sighed, carefully tucking the pencil in the spine and folding his arms overtop of the book to look at Makoto.

“You said you wanted learn more about me, right?”

Makoto nodded dumbly.

“And Rin is okay with not being around you every minute?”

Another nod. Haruka sucked in a breath. _Was this too soon?_

“I want you to meet my family.”

* * *

Oh he was definitely going to get in trouble. So undoubtedly going to be in trouble, either with his mother or Rin or both for sneaking out after dinner to do this. Curiosity had the better of him after all. This was the first time Haruka had ever offered to open himself up like this, and Makoto would be damned if he didn’t take this opportunity.

Still, there was the underlying feeling of fear as he waded into the dark waves. It had been far too long since he’d been in the ocean; the fact that the light was quickly fading wasn’t helping either. The current tugged at his legs, dark fingers coaxing him towards the depths. Panic started rising in his throat.

“Makoto?”

There was a splash a few meters away, and there was Haruka, back lit by the setting sun. He cocked his head.

“Are you coming?”

He swallowed. It would be okay. Whatever Haru’s family was like, they’d manage. Makoto waded out to Haruka, giving the merman’s shoulder a quick squeeze.

“Yeah. Let’s go.”

From what he could tell, they were headed towards the group of rocks at the mouth of the cove, or at least, that was the direction Haruka was taking him, it was hard to tell. The merman kept diving under the water, swimming out of sight for minutes at a time. Every once in a while he could hear the sound of whistles and clicks from underneath him, Haru no doubt trying to communicate with his family.

_Oh god… what would they think of him?_

Makoto’d never seen another mermaid since he’d met Haruka, but there clearly had to be more. Maybe Haru’s family preferred keeping to themselves, away from humans. Maybe they hated humans, held a grudge against them, and pulled sailors down into the depths given half the chance, just like in the myths.

This was all starting to feel like a bad idea. He hadn’t even told anyone where he was going.

Haruka breached a few feet off to Makoto’s left, wet bangs clinging to his face as he made his way to the boy’s side. The usually calming presence barely eased Makoto’s nerves.

“They’re close, probably only a few hundred yards away now.” He let out another call, this time above the surface. It echoed shrilly off the nearby cliffs, ringing out across the waters…

A distant reply came from the greater bay, the same two rapid whistles followed by a longer, higher one. He thought he caught sight of a splash some distance in front of them.

Before Makoto knew it he was reaching out for Haruka’s hand. This was a bad idea, such a bad idea, there were too many things to go wrong, too many differences between their two species. His eyes were screwing shut, hand squeezing the living daylights out of Haru’s fingers.

Something broke the water nearby, a nearly deafening whistle shot straight through his eardrums. There was another splash, and Haruka’s fingers left his own.

Makoto risked cracking an eye, quickly opening the other to stare in surprise at the sight in front of him.

Two dolphins, one larger than himself, another smaller, closer to the size of Ren floated before him. Haruka let out a low chitter of whistles, swimming over to the pair. The smaller, probably a baby as he was now realizing, squeaked and proceeded to nuzzle Haruka with it’s beak, only pulling away when the other let out a series of clicks. Haru swam over to this one in turn, returning the same display of affection before turning back to Makoto.

The dolphins seemed to take notice of him now, the larger one tilting its head quizzically to the side. Haruka swum back over to Makoto, the brunette’s mouth hanging open, ready to ask what was going on when Haruka began to circle him. The brunette swam around his body, occasionally rubbing up against his chest with his arms, or butting his head against Makoto’s. He paused in his motions, head resting on Makoto’s shoulder, and let out three whistles – mid, high, low.

It was some strange ritual, lost to him, but the dolphins seemed to understand. The younger one dove towards them, echoing the call Haruka had just made, surfacing barely two inches in front of a now _very terrified_ Makoto.

Instead of attacking, it snuggled up to his other shoulder, all the while repeating the same call, looking to Makoto expectantly. Haruka leaned over.

“She’s expecting you to return the call.”

Makoto blinked, still not quite over the fact that instead of mermaids there were two dolphins here, and one had made an _extremely_ convincing charge at him that his heart still hadn’t quite recovered from.

“Did you really expected me to pick up on that all on my own?” he hissed.

Haruka shrugged, swimming over to the older dolphin to watch the calf and Makoto. “In any case, she’s starting to think you’re pretty dense.”

Makoto stuck his tongue out at Haru, but tried the whistle call. It was simple enough, but he was treading water and something the size of a 5th grader was swimming all over him. The result was recognizable, but a bit garbled still. The little dolphin accepted it, repeating it once more before charging back over to larger one with the same reckless abandon.

Haruka swam back to his side.

“They’re still both a little cautious, but think you’re interesting. Even if you’re not that quick-witted.”

Makoto stared dumbly at his friend.

“There is no way… you’re not telling me that’s your sister and parent are you? _Oh my gosh please don’t tell me the entire reason you exist is because some idiot got so drunk that they…”_

“No,” cut in Haruka before Makoto could finish that mentally scarring thought. “They’re not my birth family. They’re part of the pod I grew up with, extended family I guess.”

_Oh. That made a lot more sense._

He was about to ask more, but the calf cut between them then, letting out a little chirp before spraying Haruka in the face. The mermaid pulled one half of his sodden bangs, then the other out of his eyes.

“Oh it’s on…” he muttered.

Before Makoto could so much as blink Haruka and the calf were racing about, chasing each other in and out of the water, darting around rocks and the other two mammals accompanying them. With a terrific lunge Haruka managed to catch the youngling’s dorsal fin, letting out a triumphant whistle before diving back under the waves. He surfaced next to Makoto, ducking just as a wayward tail slap splashed the brunette full in the face.

“Haru…” sputtered Makoto beneath a tangled mass of hair, “I’m going to get both of you back for this…”

* * *

Their playing lasted well into nightfall, the chasing, bubble blowing and wave-making ending only when Makoto’s limbs began to turn to lead. He’d been treading water for close to an hour before he started to feel that familiar heavy looseness that came after a long workout in the water. The mother and calf (who he now knew had some form of name along the lines of a toddler playing a slide whistle) left them with a series of squeaks as they began to make their way back to open water.

Haruka had wrapped Makoto’s arms around his shoulders, letting the exhausted boy drag lazily behind him. His eyes were drooping closed every few seconds; Makoto found himself nodding on and off against Haru’s neck.

They were halfway back to shore when he finally spoke.

“When you said I was going to meet your family, I thought you meant other mermaids, like an entire group of you living around Iwatobi. I was worried what they’d think. Why _do_ you live with dolphins anyways?”

Haru adjusted Makoto’s grip around his neck before answering.

“It’s dangerous for us to be in large group. We spread out, integrate with pods in different regions so that we don’t get spotted. That’s how it’s been for generations.”

“Generations? So before… you were in bigger groups?”

“At some point, yeah.” Haruka’s pace had slowed down until they were practically drifting. “From what I remember they say we used to live in big groups of our own, but after humans started making boats and hunting whales that all stopped.”

Makoto nodded. “So now you live by yourself with your pod. Do you even know any others? I mean, aside from that girl you told me about before.”

“My mother…” came Haruka’s quiet voice. He said nothing else, submerging the bottom half of his face in the water until the silence between them grew too thick.

“She raised me for 5 years until I was old enough to live on my own with the pod. Ever since I’ve been with them. I guess there’s also the greater pod, but we only meet every few years to make sure all the territories are still safe.”

Makoto hummed against his shoulder, but seemed to tired to ask any more questions. The rest of the trip was accompanied only by the swishing of the merman’s tail and the distant sound of wind through the trees. Haruka beached them on the sand, shaking Makoto before finally deciding to just pinch his nostrils shut to wake him up.

The brunette woke immediately.

He rubbed his eyes and toweled off before pulling on a thin jacket. Haruka trailed his eyes up and down the form in front of him, trying to remember as many details as possible for his crack at drawing.

“Are you going to stop by tomorrow?”

Makoto looked up from pulling on his shoes. “If you want me to.”

Haruka gave him a shy smile before sliding back into the sea. He swam out a distance, before turning back to look at the boy on shore.

“Makoto!” he called. He could just make out the turn of the body. Three notes – mid, high, low – rang out across the cove.

Seconds later, a reply. Still a bit shaky and unpracticed, but the same three tones.

 _Ma-ko-to,_ he mouthed, before diving back beneath the waves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Couple quick notes for those of you that are curious:
> 
> Dolphins use signature group calls mostly to find each other across distances, but Haruka's also assigned a separate one to Makoto for his pod to identify him by. None of the dolphin's in Haru's family have names in the human sense, but they all use slight variations on the group call to identify each other. Haruka's call is supposed to be vaguely reminiscent of the word "Nanase".


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter up! I've got the next few planned out, so hopefully I can get them out faster

Rin was midway through lunch when his phone buzzed. He flipped the message open - Makoto, who else these days?  - and readied himself for what was probably another worry-fest over his friend’s almost-not-quite-but-so-obvious-boyfriend.

**Rin I've got a favor to ask you.**

Not exactly what he'd expected, but he was ready to put a month’s worth of spending money on where this was going.

**_Depends. Did you and Haruka fight and I need to give him some ridiculous form of mermaid apology letter?_ **

**No we didn't fight or anything but you're not far off. I promised Haru I'd meet him today and this morning I woke up with a fever** **…**  

**_So I have to tell fish boy you're home sick... Why are you anyways?_ **

Makoto’s next reply took longer. When it popped up on his screen he could practically see the guilty expression on his friend's face. 

**Oh well nothing much I was just out in the cold too long with wet hair. Don't worry too much!**

**_Makoto,_** Rin texted with gritted teeth, **_why exactly were you out in the cold sopping wet yesterday?_**

**Oh.**

**Uhm.**

**Don't be mad but after I dropped off the thing for Haru we hung out a bit and then he invited me to meet his family and I said yes because it was like the first time Haru's ever offered to let me know more about him out of the blue and so we met up at night and we swam out to meet them and Rin its so weird but also really cute they were dolphins Haru was raised by dolphins and they treat him just like one of them and he can communicate with them and introduced me and we played together for an hour or so and then I went home and I didn’t tell you because I knew you’d freak out but everything went fine nothing happened except for me getting sick because I didn't exactly bring a good jacket.**

Rin had to read Makoto's text over twice (and add in all the punctuation he'd skipped over to make the longest run-on sentence in history) before he could manage to send a reply. Makoto was back to trusting Haruka enough to be in the water together? Completely and utterly at the mercy of the water and any strange mermaid allies out there?

 ** _You thought I'd freak out???_  **he sent back, not exactly giving the impression that he was completely fine with this development. 

**Well, yeah. You've been really protective of me and it's really nice of you but I don't want you worrying about me all the time. You’d have probably told me not to go and stake out my house or something.**

That stung a bit… sure, he was always watching over Makoto’s shoulder. But seriously, who the hell wouldn’t be overprotective of their friend after they went through something like that? Rin twisted a stray piece of hair between his fingers, his stomach mimicking the action with sickening accuracy. Did Makoto think he was holding the pair back from healing? _Was he?_

**_No… I'd come with you and keep you from swimming out to the middle of the ocean on your own._ **

 Makoto replied at the speed of light.

**Really?**

**So you're saying you wouldn't try and keep me from seeing Haru?**

  _Fuck, Makoto._ He could picture the brunette, probably staring at his phone in surprise? Disbelief? This had gotten way too deep into places he didn’t want too touch. As much as Makoto getting involved with something like Haruka was summoning every overprotective brother instinct in his arsenal, being around the merman made him smile more and more then Rin could remember. 

**_I just want you to be happy Mako._ **

**_I’ll go see him after practice._ **

He waited for the reply, crossing his fingers Makoto wouldn’t keep pressing of the Haruka topic.

**Thanks Rin. I owe you.**

* * *

It wasn’t until almost 6 that he made it to the bay. Haruka had probably been waiting hours for Makoto by now, maybe even given up. Not that he blamed the guy. Then again what other commitments were there for a merman?

Rin stumbled out of the brambles (not without a significant round of hair pulling from them) and crouched down to check their little spot. _No sign of him. Probably gave up ages ago_. Still, he gave a cursory scan of the water.

Something dark popped up out by the cliffs. It was small, too far away to tell if it was Haruka or just a seal, but…

Rin gave the thing a wave. He could swear he saw it turn, maybe even jerk a bit as it faced his direction, then was back underwater with barely a ripple. If it didn’t surface again soon, he was ready to call it a day. These frequent trips to Iwatobi were starting to build up more and more, and he wasn’t exactly keen on all his spending money going towards transit. On a second scan nothing had come back up again. Rin pulled out his phone.

The next second he was hit by a torpedo intent on squeezing the living daylights out of him. “ _THE FUCK?”_ was all he managed to get out as he and Haruka landed in a heap on the wet rocks. The merman practically jumped off of him after realizing who was there, giving Rin a sheepish look before leaning back in his face once more.

“Where’s Makoto?” The tone was anxious, Haruka looking around and behind Rin as if the brunette would jump out of his pocket or something. “Why hasn’t he come? Is there… did he…”

Rin firmly pried Haruka off his lap, making a mental note that his freshly washed uniform pants were going to need another cleaning tonight, and forced the merman to sit still for two seconds.

“Makoto can’t make it today so he asked me to come and tell you. He’s home sick, trying to sleep off his fever.”

Haruka stilled almost instantly, trading squirrel-like jumpiness for gnawing his bottom lip. 

"Sick?"

"That's what I just said…"

Rin watched as he balled his fingers into fists against his tail. “It’s because I asked him to swim with me, right?”

“Well, uh…”

“It is, isn’t it?” Haruka tugged his tail closer, fiddling with the ends of his flukes now. “I wanted him to meet my family, let him understand a little more, and he’s sick because of it.”

There was little else Rin could respond with. “Yeah, probably,” was his stupid reply.

The confirmation visibly upset Haruka. Rin could see that his nails were now digging into his tail, leaving little crescent moons behind as he continued to bite his lip. If he squinted he could see him rocking too, eyes unfocused, staring blankly down at the sand by Rin’s feet.

“Hey…” Rin said, and Haruka nearly fell off the rocks as Rin rested a hand on top of his own trembling ones. “You’re blaming yourself for this, aren’t you?”

Blue eyes wandered across their hands, darting up for quick glances at the redhead’s face before immediately averting away. It was like he couldn’t look Rin in the eyes.

“How couldn’t I?” The question hung there, heavy, untouched. At Rin’s silence Haruka hugged himself tighter. “First I loose control and hurt him, then I go and get him sick. How can I not blame myself? How can _he_ not blame me?”

“Hey now,” cautioned Rin. This was getting far too negative far too fast, and after all those freaking movie nights and lunches on the beach trying to slowly patch things up. _Christ, it always felt like one step forward, two steps back with these two._

“Mako’s not petty like that, you should know better. Blaming you is probably the last thing on his mind right now.”

Haruka sniffed. “You think?”

“I’m talking about a guy who once got shoved in line by some pushy bitch of a woman and watched at she bought the last chocolate cornet he wanted, only to say that it was probably because he accidentally stepped in front of her and she was in a rush. He’ll blame himself 50 times over before he blames someone else, so you being the reason he’s sick in never going to cross his mind.” Rin gave what was he thought was Haruka’s knee a gentle pat. “He told me it’s his fault for not bringing a better sweater.”

The merman finally managed to look him in the eyes. “Really?”

“Really,” said Rin as he stood back up. “And it’s probably just a 24 hour bug, should be over and done with by tomorrow.”

Haruka rubbed his cheek bashfully. “So one of you will come by tomorrow and tell me?”

The way he was looking up at Rin, eyes wide, bottom lip held in an almost-pout, it was nearly impossible for the redhead not to think of a dog anxiously waiting it’s owner. He gave Haruka’s hair a ruffle, turning the guy’s expression to a full pout.

“I guess so.”

* * *

It was, as it turned out the following morning through a groggy round of texting, _not_ a 24-hour bug.

**So I threw up in the middle of the night… it was all yellow and porridgelike.**

Besides that being _wayyyy_ too much information on Makoto’s part (Rin really could have done with him not describing that right before breakfast), he now had the additional issue of needing to see Haru again today and breaking the news to him. It wasn’t that seeing the merman was a trek through lemons and broken glass, _no_ , he and Haru were more or less alright these days. It was more the fact that he’d have to go and have to see that sad puppy dog look he thought only Gou could make.

**_I guess I’ll stop by and tell your boyfish then._ **

Makoto managed some half intelligible reply, probably falling back asleep while writing it, leaving the rest to Rin. He set out later in the afternoon, backpack slung over his shoulder and Makoto awake just long enough for them to manage to hold a conversation longer than 5 minutes.

“I feel awful,” moaned Makoto through a flem-soaked throat, “and not just because of this bug. I told him I’d be there and I go and get sick.”

He really couldn’t help but roll his eyes as Makoto coughed into the phone. _I told you so Haru…_

“Well, not to pressure you or anything, but he’s hoping you make a speedy recovery. Probably so he doesn’t have to keep waiting in the bay for news from me.”

“Rin I’m sorry…”

“It’s not your fault Makoto,” he breathed out through his nose. “It’s not like you chose to get sick. But next time you go and find some guy you like can you at least pick someone that’s easier to contact?”

There was a chuckle from Makoto’s end, ending in a raspy hack. A moment of radio silence fell between them.

“Hey Rin… maybe we coul-“

“ _We are not getting the merman a phone Makoto!”_ Rin hissed, covering the mouthpiece with his hand and hoping no one was eavesdropping in on his conversation. “ _You know he’d drown it in less than a week, there’s no fucking way I'm chipping in to get him one.”_

“Just an idea…” was Makoto’s mumbled reply, but he could tell the other boy wasn’t too hurt by his rejection of the idea. “Tell him I’m sorry and I really wish I could see him?”

“Sure thing.”

In the very least Haruka didn’t tackle him to the ground today, in fact, he hardly got more then his eyes out of the water. The whole meeting was a gloomy affair, Rin’s comforting words from the day before were proved hollow, and repeating it again today didn’t manage to stir the same look of hope in those blues. The merman felt like shit, and it was so obvious it was rubbing off on him. As long as Makoto was bedridden the two of them couldn’t see each other, and no attempts to bridge the gap would work.

He’d even suggested letting Haruka call Makoto, but the boy just shook his head.

“Talking to him would only stress him out more. It’ll take even longer for him to get better.”

And he had it 100% true. Makoto was too selfless for his own good. He was already worrying about Haruka worrying about him, having him actually _hear_ how much would only make things worse. If they could just _see_ each other, get through this stupid pile of overworked guilt they each had, they might actually make some progress with each other instead of this stupid game.

Rin grumbled and readjusted in his seat on the train. _Those two need to get better at talking, or in the very least, better at reading each other._ And he’d be _damned_ if he didn’t manage to get them there.

* * *

Day three of Makoto-fluemageddon broke with a mid-morning phone call to his best friend, only to have a drugged up sounding Makoto answer.

“ ‘sRin?”

“Yeah, it’s me,” he sighed. “I’m guessing you’re still not over it?”

Sound of Makoto shuffling under the covers filled the speaker of Rin’s phone. “No… though it is getting a bit better?”

“Mmm, hopefully.” All the better to calm Haruka’s nerves. Speaking of which…

“Can I pop by today?” asked Rin. Judging by the sudden change in Makoto’s breathing it took him off guard.

“I… I guess? Mom is taking Ren and Ran out clothes shopping and Dad went out to meet an old college friend. I can ask her to hide a key in the garden. Stop by and check on Haru for me?”

Rin shuffled out of bed, pulling on a pair of jeans as he grabbed his wallet and keys. “You got it.” He bent down to grab a spare shirt, followed by an old blanket Nitori probably wouldn’t miss.

“See you in an hour.”

* * *

“You’re joking,” had been the words out of his mouth when Rin showed up this morning, chipper and smiling like a deranged nurse shark. The redhead had seemed unphased though, practically bouncing on the balls of his feet as he literally dragged Haru up onto the beach.

And here there were now, miles away from the sea, with Rin pushing him in what he could only assume was a portable human torture device.

It supposedly had a name, this mystery torture device, a “ _wheel-chair”_ , if he’d heard right. Rin had hoisted him into it without much more then a simple “we’re gonna go on a field trip”, resulting in a cut lip for the human and a faceplant full of sand and metal for him before the guy had managed to explain it was in order to see Makoto. He’d begrudgingly agreed to sit still after that.

Besides this “wheel-chair” Rin had stuffed him into, Haruka had also been drowned in a mess of fabrics and clothes, completely smothering his tail from sight or moisture. Even though the foreign item scratched uncomfortably on his bottom half (the ones on his torso seemed far more comfortable), he bore with it. Discomfort was the price to pay for not being discovered.

He turned his head around. Around Rin’s shoulder he could just make out the sea, glinting and shimmering in the far distance. His stomach flipped. If he was separated from Rin… if anyone noticed he didn’t have legs… there’d be no way of getting back.

There was a sudden jerk to the left and Rin was pushing them closer and closer to one of the enormous boxes jutting out of the hillside. Panic was already rising in his throat, it was painfully clear how out of his element he was right now.

_Is this how Makoto feels about the ocean?_

The thought came out of nowhere, but it struck him flat in the chest, jolting him where he sat. Makoto panicking in the water the day they met, the hesitance he always had when wading in past his chest, it was probably the same as he felt right now, that numbing sensation in the gut of the unknown ripping you away from everything you knew, the hanging fear of being trapped there forever… the idea you might…

“Well, this is Makoto’s house,” said Rin, breaking Haruka out of his revelation. “Lemme just… where is… it's got to be… a-HA!” He whipped a small metal item out of a plant holder and proceeded to jam it in the wall of the box. A section of it opened inward, like a giant mouth.

The redhead looked over his shoulder. “You ready?”

Haruka swallowed. There was no point turning back now.

“Yes.”


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to take a second to say thanks for all the kind words and kudos you guys have sent over the past few months. I haven't really been the most confident person out there when it comes to writing, so it's really nice to know this has made some of you smile (:

Makoto blinked sleepily. He was pretty sure he’d just heard the front door open downstairs, but a glance at his clock showed it was still too early for Mom and the twins to be back from the mall. Still, there was definitely enough shuffling and clunking for it to be them. He snuggled back into his comforters.

A clunk and distinct “FUCK” filtered up the stairs.

Okay. Definitely not his family.

The brunette propped himself up on his elbow. Come to think of it, hadn’t Rin invited himself over? He could hear someone coming up the stairs now, a heck of a lot slower than the twins’ usual thumping dash.

“Rin?”

“Makoto!” shouted Rin (though something seemed off with his voice, sorta like he was lugging something). “You’re awake! This makes things… a lot easier…”

His door swung open and Rin strode in. Makoto bolted straight upright, bedhead and all.

“RIN WHAT THE HECK IS… oh my god…”

Haruka was slung over Rin’s shoulder, grey-finned bottom stuck straight up in the air while the rest of him dangled over the sides like a ragdoll. At Makoto’s outburst he twisted around, somehow managing to contort himself enough to grab hold of the redhead’s other shoulder to wave at him.

“Hi.”

He managed to raise one hand in a jerky sort of wave. There was no way… but he’s actually done it… the proof was right here.

“You brought Haru?” he squeaked.

“Yeah,” shrugged Rin, jostling Haruka in the process. “Since we’re _clearly_ not getting him a phone and he’s giving himself an ulcer worrying about you so much I figured it’s a hell of a lot easier to just let him check on you himself.”

“You brought Haru. Here.”

Rin pulled his desk chair over towards the bed. “Yeah that’s what I said.”

“Here?”

“Rin, I don’t think he’s as happy to see me as you thought.”

Even through his fever induced haze there was something so obviously wrong with this picture that was making his brain short circuit like this. His best friend on the other hand was acting as if mermaid delivery was a daily habit of his, dropping Haru onto the chair and letting him figure out how he was supposed to sit. As if this was 100% normal. It felt like the nerve behind his eye was going to snap.

“ _HOW DID YOU GET HIM HERE? HOW THE HECK DID NO ONE NOTICE YOU CARRYING A MERMAN AROUND TOWN RIN? “_

He trailed off, panting. Haruka was frozen with his tail over the back of the chair, with Rin looking as calm and composed as Rei when he thought he knew what he was doing.

“I covered him up, duh.”

Come to think of it… Haru was wearing Rin’s Samezuka jacket (and still not managing to figure out proper chair posture), but that still didn’t answer all the nagging questions.

“How did you carry him all the way here? Didn’t people look at you guys?”

Rin and Haruka traded glances, and he felt his stomach flip.

“Oh god someone saw you...”

Haruka stopped playing with the chair wheels long enough to look at him. “Well there was that old human lady that looked at us, but it might have been because Rin was complaining about pushing me.”

Makoto stared at him in disbelief (admittedly half of it was for how impossibly contorted he’d become after finding the height adjuster). “Wait… pushing you?”

Haruka nodded. “In a ‘wheel-chair’.”

It was Rin’s turn for Makoto to stare vacantly at him.

“Do I even want to ask where you got one?”

The redhead shrugged. “The Samezuka drama department has one, and they’re not going to miss it any time soon. Figured it was the least conspicuous way to carry him, just bundle the weird bits up in blankets.” Haruka shot him a look. “Speaking of… I should go get it out of the genkan.”

Without another word Rin was gone, leaving him alone with Haru. As soon as the door clicked shut the merman bolted upright (showing that he actually _could_ sit properly in a chair if he wanted) and awkwardly scooted it closer with all the grace of a manatee piloting a gondola until he was pressed up right against the bed. With trembling fingers he reached out a hand and held it on Makoto’s forehead.

Haru’s hand was deliciously cool against his heated brow and Makoto couldn’t help but let out a little sigh of contentment at it. Those sapphire orbs before him told a different story though. Shimmering and wet, set above thinly drawn lips as another hand pressed two fingers to his neck to check his pulse. He continued to watch as Haruka pressed an ear to his chest, listening to his heartbeat. A fist balled up in his t-shirt as if clenching on for dear life.

“Haru,” he swallowed, “Haru what’s wrong, please don’t be worried.” With a bit of fumbling he managed to lift Haruka’s face from his chest and gaze into his eyes. The merman’s breaths were long and shallow, like his own when he fought back tears and panic, top lip tucked beneath bottom trying to hold everything in. Everything he must have been feeling the past three days: concern, worry, helplessness… guilt? Makoto couldn’t say how he knew; maybe it was Haruka’s behavior, maybe it was the way his eyes reflected the light in this moment, but in that instant it was as if he’d been granted access to Haru’s mind.

“Hey,” Makoto whispered as he stroked his finger against Haruka’s cheek. “I’m okay. It’s just the flu. Everything will be back to normal in a day or two, so you don’t have to be scared for me, alright?”

Haru’s eyes crinkled, lips pulling into the thinnest line yet. Before he could help himself Makoto had pulled his dark-haired head against his chest, gently massaging the nape of his neck.

“This isn’t your fault Haru.” He could feel his voice box vibrate against Haru and how the merman pressed closer at it. “I don’t blame you for this, so you don’t need to blame yourself. If every time some little thing happened to you I beat myself up, even if I wasn’t even responsible, would you want me to do that?”

A headshake came from between his arms.

Makoto let himself give a little smile. “Exactly. So please don’t do that to yourself anymore. If we have issues then we can talk about them, but don’t go guessing I’m mad at you when I’m not. I’ll try and do the same to, so deal?”

Haruka surfaced from against Makoto’s chest to stare up at the brunette’s face.

“Deal.”

Makoto let out a chuckle, ruffling Haruka’s hair until the merman buried his face back into Makoto’s shoulder in embarrassment.

“Rin said you wouldn’t be upset at me.”

“Oh?” said Makoto between strokes of Haru’s hair. It was such a soft, silky texture he was finding it really therapeutic.

“He said you’d always blame yourself for everything before even thinking that someone else could be at fault. So you’re just as bad as me.”

Rin walked back in the room then, his backpack on the seat of a collapsible wheelchair. He gave the pair an inquisitive look, Haruka giving him a little shrug as if to say ‘don’t look at me Makoto was the one that started the hugging’.

“He did, did he?” asked Makoto with a raised at eyebrow at Rin. The redhead rolled his eyes and pushed the wheelchair up to Makoto’s desk.

“Hey, it’s true that you’re completely incapable of having a malicious thought towards anyone other than yourself, I’m just letting Haru know what he’s getting into.”

Makoto huffed. “That’s not true, I’m thinking of how a certain _someone_ maybe shouldn’ttell _people_ all my flaws without my knowing, and instead should maybe mind his own shark toothed business.”

“Well, I think I’d like to remind _someone_ that the only reason they’re getting to see a certain something today is because said shark toothed person made it happen.”

Haruka was glancing from Rin to Makoto to Rin in confusion.

“You two are talking about each other, but you’re not using each other’s names, right? Why are you….”

The two friends broke out in laughter at Haruka’s confused face, leaving him to continue swiveling his head to and fro like a baby owl until Rin finally caught his breath long enough to get two words out without cracking up again.

“Haru…” he chortled as Makoto flopped over on the mattress in another fit of giggles, “this is just… how human friendships are.”

“Weird,” was the merman’s only reply.

* * *

The trio ended up playing cards, or better put, Makoto and Rin tried explaining Big 2 to Haruka for 20 minutes before settling on an easier game of Go Fish. Rin was just in the middle of asking Haruka if he had any threes (he didn’t) when there was a sudden chorus of loud shouts from the bottom of the house.

Makoto and Rin’s faces snapped up in horror.

“Oh god…” whimpered Makoto.

Rin’s eyes were bulging. “We lost track of time…” 

“…and now my family’s back home.”

Haruka looked up from his carefully arranged card pairs. Makoto had a family, it was no secret or anything, Rin would just take him back home before they found out he was here. Simple. All they had to do was have Rin carry him down the ‘stairs’, cover himself in-

_Oh._

_Oh crap._

“Let’s go see if Onii-chan is awake right now!” came a voice from downstairs. Makoto dropped his cards, white as seafoam. There was a cacophony of thumps that could only mean one thing…

“Shitshitshitshit _SHIT!”_ hissed Rin, bolting across the room to toss the wheelchair and camouflage fabric into the depths of Makoto’s closet. “ _HIDE HIM!”_ he mouthed to Makoto, just as a round of giggles approached the other side of the door. Haruka was suddenly wrapped in Makoto’s arms and slammed down onto the bed. He opened his mouth in protest but Makoto ignored it, ripping the blankets from the corner of the mattress and lying on top of the merman just as the door swung open.

Beneath Makoto was swelteringly hot. Between the blankets and the boy’s elevated temperature he was already feeling himself begin to dry out, a light sweat had even broken out on his forehead. The brunette had positioned himself so all but Haru’s flukes were smothered by his body. Haruka’s tail rested between his legs, cocked at an awkward angle to accommodate his dorsal fin; his head pressed against the boy’s chest.

“Onii-chan?” came a voice. Makoto adjusted on top of him, pressing Haruka’s face even further between his pectorals. His heart was beating a thousand miles per minute as he spoke.

“Ren, Ran… you guys are back from shopping!”

“Yep! We got summer clothes!”

“Look at my new shoes!” came a second, nearly identical voice.

“Very nice Ren, I like the stripes,” vibrated through Haru’s skull.

“Hey onii-chan,” came the first voice, “why is Rin-kun here?”

There was a round of awkward sputtering and an ‘oomph’ that Haruka took for Rin being tackled before he heard the redhead’s voice.

“Jeez you brats are heavy now aren’t you… I’m just here to keep an eye on your big brother while you two were out. Can’t have him dying of loneliness now can we?”

“Nooo!” came a chorus of little voices. Makoto readjusted again and Haru managed to get a breath of cool air in before he was smothered once again as another voice filled the room.

“Rin-kun, what a nice surprise! We really haven’t seen you in a long time.”

“Hi Auntie,” said Rin bashfully. “I just stopped by to check on Makoto.”

“So nice of you! One of Ren’s friends was over the other day with a cough and it seems like Makoto got the full force of it. Why don’t I get you two some tea and snacks and leave you two for a bit more of a visit? Ren, Ran, let’s let your brother rest a bit more.”

The other two foreign voices followed the third away (but not without a tittering of complaints). He could hear another set of footsteps in the room, followed the click of what Rin had told him was a ‘door’. Makoto pulled back the blanket to look at him.

“We are so fucked,” said Rin. “So entirely fucking fucked there is no fucking way we’re going to keep Haru a secret from your family.”

“Well… that’s not… we might…” babbled Makoto.

Rin sat down on the floor, head in hands. “No seriously Makoto, how the fuck are we going to get him back to the ocean without your folks or the twins seeing him? Your mom’s going to follow me to the door insisting I take 5 pounds of home cooked food with me back to dorm and if any of them see you up out of bed they’re going to swarm you.”

“You make it sound like Mom’s cooking is a bad thing…”

“ _Not the point, Makoto_ ,” growled the redhead. “All we can do right now is hide him here in your room, and there’s only so long he can be out of the water. How long again?”

Haruka shimmied under Makoto’s bulk. “If I can wet my tail on and off, just about 3 days. If not, probably less than one.”

There was a long silence, accompanied with Makoto nervously fiddling with the hairs that hung over Haru’s neck. Rin was avoiding eye contact with him, no doubt feeling guilty over the whole mess. He was trapped, and not even in a little case of water. If they couldn’t do anything, if they couldn’t get him back to the ocean…

“I’ll take him back.” Makoto hugged Haruka closer. “I’ll do it, after everyone goes to bed. It’s the one time we can do it.”

Rin’s head snapped up.

“Makoto…” said Haru softly.

“Mako, you’re still sick, what if something happens on the way?”

The brunette’s jaw set. “Rin, I’m fine, I’m almost back to normal. It’s barely a mile there and back, it’ll take an hour tops.”

“But Mako…”

“ _I’m doing it._ Haru won’t make it otherwise, so don’t try to stop me.” His green eyes were flashing dangerously now. Rin sat still, chewing his lip. His gaze lifted once, twice, and for an instant he and Haru exchanged a look.

“Okay.” Rin stood up, taking his bag off the back of the chair. “I won’t stop you, just text me when he’s back in the ocean. Oh,” he added, rummaging through his bag, “you might want this.” Rin tossed a bottle at Makoto. “It’s not good for him to go without water for too long.”

Haruka gingerly took it from Makoto, and – using the same technique Rin had all those weeks ago – twisted the neck to expose the little hole at the top. One of Rin’s hands was already on the knob of metal sticking out of the door, a weak smile across his lips. His eyes locked on Haruka’s one last time.

“Stay safe you two.”

But what he really meant, what he’d been meaning to say every time he looked at Haru, was _‘keep Makoto safe’._

* * *

“Haru… Haru wake up.” Makoto was jostling him awake, one arm halfway pulled through a jacket. “It’s time.”

Haruka blinked groggily, but Makoto was right. It was dark outside the window and the sounds of other humans in the house were no longer heard. Makoto began pulling on a pair of socks (Haruka blushing slightly in the dark thinking about the pair currently in his possession).

They’d spent the last few hours bundled up in Makoto’s bedding, talking and dozing on and off until it was time to move. About an hour after Rin left he’d been shoved beneath Makoto again as the third mysterious voice – Makoto’s mother as he’d explained later – came to drop off some food for him. It had been a bowl of mushy white gunk, but after Makoto’s insistence on him to eat _something_ he’d found it wasn’t nearly as bad as it looked.

He’d been nursing Rin’s water until then, only taking the barest sips when he began to feel dizzy from the heat of Makoto’s flushed body, but with the food had come other flavoured liquid (he really didn’t understand humans’ need to add stuff to water) to quench his thirst.

“We’ve got to be quiet until we’re out of the house,” whispered Makoto as he pulled the pillow sack they’d soaked with water off Haru’s tail. “I swear Mom has a dog’s hearing she always wakes up when Ren and Ran have to go to the bathroom in the night.”

Haruka nodded and stretched his arms out to Makoto. The brunette lifted him up, one arm under his hips, the other holding his back and the pair carefully made their way to the door. Haru clung to Makoto’s neck as he opened the door at a sea slug’s pace, trying to avoid any creak or whine they possibly could.

They padded down the hall in a strange zigzag pattern known only to Makoto, as if there were traps everywhere except where they stepped. As they reached the top of the stairs Haruka finally heard him let out a breath. Then carefully, slowly, they began to make their way down.

Makoto let out a little grunt halfway down, readjusting his grip around Haruka as they turned the corner and began the last flight. Twelve more steps… eleven more steps… ten more steps…

Something went wrong. He couldn’t tell whether it was a misplaced foot, something on the step, or another flash of feverish haze, but Makoto’s foot slid out from under him. They seemed to hang in midair, Makoto’s wide eyes in a mix of surprise and terror.

And then they were falling, falling through the darkness towards the floor below.

 


	12. Chapter 12

The first thing that broke through his clouded mind was the screaming. A woman, somewhere nearby, was shrieking her lungs out, calling out for help as frantic footsteps thudded overhead. Another voice called out, deeper and belonging to a man, growing closer and closer until they were right on top of each other, man comforting woman to calm down, breathe. Beyond his eyelids came a harsh, instant snap of a light.

The screaming restarted.

“ _WHAT IS THAT THING? WHAT IS IT– OH MY GOD IT HAS MAKOTO, HONEY IT HAS MAKOTO! AND THERE’S BLOOD, OH GOD, THERE’S BLOOD… LOOK AT IT’S MOUTH! IT’S ATTACKED HIM!”_

Senses were beginning to return to him slowly. He could feel the dull throbbing behind his temples, and the warm trickle of something dripping down his cheeks and chin onto his neck. All the while the woman screamed – a familiar voice now that his mind was clearer – as the man shouted for her to stay where they were.

“We don’t know how dangerous it is, what if it tries to attack us? Or the twins? I’ll call the authorities and have them deal with this, you keep an eye and make sure it doesn’t try to do something else.”

He was screwing his eyes shut, trying to fight off the last remnants of fog from his head. Something had happened… something that had led to all this. With all his effort he opened his lids.

“But what if it’s too late, what if- _Honey!_ Honey look he’s awake!”

The couple in front of him swum before his vision, and at last the pieces began to fall back into place.

“Mom? Dad?”

“Makoto!” cried his mother, bursting into what appeared to be a fresh batch of tears as his father gripped her shoulders with one hand while the other rooted through his nightgown for his phone. “Oh thank god you’re okay…”

Makoto shifted. The last thing he remembered was trying to sneak down the stairs with Haru… _Haru!_ His eyes widened, heart racing as he twisted around to catch a glimpse of him.

His heart stopped.

Haruka was underneath him, one arm wrapped around Makoto’s torso, the other hanging loosely by his ear, the remnants of a hurried attempt to cradle the boy’s head against his body. Blood was welling up from between his lips, staining the pale skin of his chin and – he realized as he touched a hand to his own cheeks – dripping down onto his own unscarred face. Unconsciously he cradled the merman’s head in his arms, fingers brushing up against a growing welt at the back of his skull.

He was unbearably still. Eyelids did not flutter, muscles did not twitch. Everything about Haruka was limp and lifeless.

“Makoto,” called his mother, “Makoto, get away from that thing!” Her cries fell on deaf ears.

“No,” he croaked, pulling Haru’s unconscious body closer. His vision swam, throat seizing up. “No… it can’t be… you can’t be… please…”

“Makoto!” His Dad this time. “Makoto get away right now! I’m calling Animal Control to deal with this.”

He nearly dropped Haru.

 _“NO! DON’T! YOU CAN’T”_   The sheer distress in his voice bounced off the household walls, startling his parents, but even so his father’s cellphone remained pressed against a bespectacled ear. From where he was Makoto could hear it ringing. “Please…” he begged, “please hang up.”

Mom was looking at him in confusion, Dad looking to her apprehensively as he lowered his phone ever so slightly.

“Makoto, do you know what that is?”

The phone kept ringing. Tears were streaming down his face now, painting one clean line down the patch of Haru’s blood. “Yes… and he’s harmless… he’d never… he…” Makoto touched the finger-shaped bruises on his arm from Haru holding him so tight. “He was protecting me…”

“Makoto…” his mother said quietly as her son buried the limp form closer against his chest. This wasn’t what was supposed to happen. They were supposed to sneak out safely, get Haru back to the ocean and the next day he’d come by, still snuffly, but there all the same because it meant that much to Haru. They’d continue on keeping Haru’s existence a secret, safe from wandering eyes bent on capturing him, but maybe, maybe if he was comfortable it, introduce him to his other friends (making sure they promise to keep it secret). Maybe one day he could meet Ren and Ran and the four of them could play in the shallows and build sandcastles. But that wasn’t going to happen now. Haruka was either gone already, or soon to be with one phone call, one stupid slip of his feet that had taken Haru’s life out from under him.

And it was all his fault. His fault for tripping, his fault for wanted Haru to stay longer, his fault for getting sick in the first place. Stupid, selfish… that was all he was…

“You have a lot of explaining for your mother and I.”

Makoto blinked, looking up the stairs at his parents. Mr. Tachibana had lowered the phone, screen blank, call ended.

“Where are you hurt?”

The question threw him off completely. Makoto looked at his parents blankly, their worried faces making his stomach flip in guilt for scaring them. “No where…” Haru’s chest had cushioned most of the blow, he’d probably fainted more out of shock than anything else.

His mom chewed her lip, obviously uncertain, his dad on the other hand, seemed to accept the reply for now.

“We’ll listen to you, and if we still think that creature’s dangerous we’ll call animal control then.”

Makoto nodded weakly. At least Haruka wouldn’t be ripped away from him… just yet. But he was still a ragdoll in his arms, an empty husk of that complex being he loved. What if he didn’t recover?

He sat there on the foyer floor, tears flowing down his cheeks in silent streams. He could hear his parents shuffling on the landing, little mumbles here and there: “Should we stop him?” “Why is he crying so much?” “Is it dead?”, yet Makoto had tuned them out. There was the faintest tickle of warm breath on his neck, just a murmur of it, but still…

“He’s alive,” he managed, breathing for what felt like the first time in ages. “Alive…”

“Makoto,” asked his father cautiously, “what exactly is alive?”

“Haru is… Haru’s…” choked Makoto through a sudden surge of relieved tears. The merman was alive, that’s what mattered now, but his condition…

Haruka’s hair was matted with congealed blood, drying and flaking on his lips. The brunette combed the disheveled locks (his own probably no better), and gently, ever so gently, pressed a finger and thumb against the bloodstained mouth.

Haru’s lips parted easily with Makoto’s fingers holding it open, the excess blood trapped inside pooling in the palm of his hand into a little crimson puddle. Mrs. Tachibana let out a startled cry of “Makoto!”, but he dismissed her warning, investigating further.

With some more gentle probing Makoto managed to open Haru’s jaw somewhat, snaking one finger then two between the teeth. There was more blood on the inside, another generous spoonful more. Makoto sucked in a breath. That could be bad, _really bad_. What if Haru was bleeding away from the inside?

Reaching in a bit further he caught Haru’s tongue between forefinger and thumb, gingerly moving it out of the way to check around the merman’s mouth when he felt something. He rubbed his finger over it again and, yes… it seemed like… it was most definitely… _there!_ A slice in his tongue. Makoto traced over it again and felt another welt of blood on his skin.

He’d just bitten it in the fall… that was all. The brunette relaxed somewhat, now pinching the wound shut and allowed himself a sigh of relief.

“Makoto,” called his mother, “Makoto honey, that ‘Haru’s’ alive, right? Do you think you could stop playing with it and explain this to us?” The boy turned sheepishly to look at his parents. He’d bee so wrapped in checking… because he _needed to_ … because Haru _needed_ to be okay.

“Akoko…”

The flesh between his fingers moved.

“Akoko wah ah oor ingahs ih ma math…”

His mom let out a little squeal of surprise, father squeezing her shoulder protectively (but still jumping behind her a bit), but Makoto saw none of that. The only thing in his world right now was the cloudy, half opened eyes in front of him and the little half-pout of confusion. It took every last drop of willpower for him not to cave and hug and kiss Haruka to pieces with his parents watching

“Akoko...” repeated Haru as the brunette continued to stare at him in amazement. He made an attempt to pull Makoto’s hand away, managing to extract the offending digits in favour or cradling his chin. “Why were your fing– _ow!_ ” Makoto watched as Haruka traced his mouth with his tongue, spitting out another few drops of blood. He looked up at Makoto in confusion. “When did I bite my tongue?”

Mrs. Tachibana sucked in a breath at Haru’s perfect Japanese, and Haru’s calm, confused demeanor was gone. At the sight of Makoto’s parents he practically dove into Makoto’s chest, trying to burry as much of his body as he could beneath the boy’s (now fairly stained) t-shirt.

“ _It can speak?_ ” Mrs. Tachibana said in surprise. Haruka continued to hide his face against Makoto’s navel, leaving Makoto to awkwardly try to calm the lump under his shirt and explain at the same time.

“Well… uhm… yeah Haru can speak Japanese… but he can also do all these whistling things too… Haru you want to show them?” All other parties thoroughly disagreed with the idea.

“Makoto…” said his dad with a firm look, “get to the point. Just what is this Haru?”

Makoto let out a sigh. “Okay, long story short Haru’s a merman who can speak Japanese and I met him at the beach and stuff happened and now we’re kinda friends…”

His parents looked at him in disbelief. Haruka pinched his side at the ‘kinda friends’ comment. “You’re joking…” mouthed his mother. “Mermaids don’t… they can’t….”

“I know! But he does!”

“No…” said his mother again… “this has to be a joke, or a nightmare… or _something else this isn’t possible._ ”

Makoto swallowed. Haruka tried to climb further up his shirt, arms hugging him tighter as his mom continued to deny the merman’s existence. If his mother and father were this hesitant about even the notion of Haruka, how could he ever hope to introduce him to the twins? To Nagisa and Rei? To even have some form of life together?

 “Haru…” came the deep timbre of his Dad’s voice. “We’d like to have a word with our son for a moment.”

Haruka shifted in Makoto’s shirt, no doubt in surprise at being addressed directly. The four figures remained frozen, Mrs. Tachibana now moving on to chewing her nails and Makoto hesitant to even touch Haru in fear of giving the wrong message. Slowly, very slowly, Haruka pulled his head out.

“Okay…” he mumbled.

Mr. Tachibana sucked in a breath. “We’d like to do it alone, meaning you stay here.” Haruka stared at the floor, avoiding eye contact at all costs, but gave a nod of understanding. “Makoto,” he continued, “let’s us and your mother go to the kitchen.”

The brunette hummed his agreement, Mr. Tachibana leading his wife by the hand down the stairs and around the strange pair. Makoto leaned forward, pulling Haru’s ocean blues to meet his gaze.

“I’m going to do whatever I can to keep you safe. Just…” he rubbed the welt at the back of Haru’s head, “please… don’t fall asleep. Don’t even close your eyes to relax until we know you’re okay.” The last thing he wanted. The last thing he _ever wanted_ , was to come back to find Haru still and empty, passed away as he bled out internally.

The merman nodded. Makoto pulled away, fingers still lingering on Haru’s shoulder until the last moment as his parents waved him to follow them to the kitchen.

* * *

He was acutely aware of everything in this strange place. The way the wood beneath his skin was as smooth as wave polished stone, the stark artificial lighting that scattered against the white sides of this room, the way the conversation of Makoto and his family were dampened far more then they ever would be out in the ocean. It was all alien. _He was alien_ , he corrected himself. _He_ was the piece that was out of place here, and humans did not favour the unknown.

Even though he and Rin had passed through here just hours before, Haruka swore it had shrunk in size. The walls and ceiling felt as though they were closing in on him, trapping him, caging him.

_Caging._

He’d been very young at the time, hardly weaned off his mother his mother, and just beginning to learn to catch his own food. They’d been travelling with the rest of the pod, trying to herd a school of smelts into a tight ball to make for easy picking. Haru had just made his first unsuccessful attempt at diving through it to capture one when it had happened. The noise.

It was foreign, low and high at the same time, this ominous droning that immediately froze everyone in their place. The other dolphins called their young close, his mother swimming over to grab his hand. It grew louder.

Before he’d known what was happening their pod was swimming away, a frenzied mass of pumping tails and alert calls. Whatever it was, it was dangerous.

Then a second noise joined in, from the opposite side, the pod turning for open water, more desperate to escape as a third cut in, edging in on all three sides and forcing them towards the coast. They had dashed, jumping and hurtling away as fast as his tail could manage, dolphins breeching and diving (Haru and his mother carefully sipping breaths as submerged as possible) trying to escape the unknown predators, but they continued to be pushed more and more towards a lone cove. His mother had let out a shriek of warning, but it was too late.

The front of the pod had entered the cove just as a fourth sound kicked into life. Haruka had been ripped from beside the other calves by her strong arms and tugged him away against the muddy, weedy bottom as a dark shadow passed overhead, net in tow.

They’d watched in horror as it corralled their pod, _their family_ , into a tighter circle, the other three surface shadows hovering around like sharks waiting for the kill. He’d whimpered to his mother, desperate for air, but she forced him to stay there, instead surfacing herself and returning to pass it on to him. They continued for what felt like hours, watching as three of the calves were pulled from the water and into the shadowy forms. After the last one had been ripped from its mother’s side the net dropped and all but the parents of the stolen children streamed away a fast as they could. The shadows drove off, calves trapped somewhere in their cavernous bellies, and at last his mother had let him surface for air.

 _Humans_ his mother had said. _Humans on ships had come to take away the pod’s calves._ There had been talk of it, by other merfolk for several years, of how humans would swoop in on boats (the strange shadows) to steal them.

 _Why do they take them?_ He’d asked. His mother had shaken her head. _They take them to trap them in little cages of water, to watch them and do things to them for their own amusement. Few if any managed to come back home, and those who did returned back to sea completely different from before._

Haru had thought he’d been careful, he’d avoided boats, learned the difference in sound between the hunting ones from the fishing ones (though they still kept their distance from them). Once his mother had left the pod he’d made it his mission to keep the family safe, teaching the calves to follow him away under the water with a handful of mothers whenever _that_ noise was heard. Even when he’d seen Makoto he’d kept his distance, watching the boy and Rin swim laps and then Makoto alone until he’d decided someone swimming alone and that terrified of drowning really couldn’t pose that much of a threat. But here he was, landed in human territory, _willingly,_ because he’d been worried about Makoto.

_I let myself get caged._

He curled up in a ball, wishing this as all a dream, but forcing himself to stay awake, Makoto’s words ringing in his ears. _‘I’m going to do whatever I can to keep you safe’_. Haru hugged himself closer, hoping that would be true.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Andddd somehow through the midst of one ridiculous week I manage to get this out sorta kinda maybe on time… how the heck did that work?

“What’s that?” came a voice.

A second joined in. “You think it’s the thing mom was screaming about earlier?”

“Maybe… is it asleep?”

“Dunno… you wanna poke it?”

Haru looked up drowsily – being out of water for so long was starting to get to him now and his blood loss hadn’t helped either – and found himself face to face with two nearly-identical human calves. One seemed to be female, with long hair and bright eyes, the other a boy with the same confused face as Makoto.

“Please don’t…” he mumbled.

“Ooooo!” clapped the girl, “You’re awake! I’m Ran, who are you?”

Haruka looked blankly at her. How was she not focusing on his tail? He rubbed his bruise. “Haruka.” The boy calf cautiously touched his tail.

“Are you a mermaid?”

“Ren,” scolded Ran, “that’s rude, let Haru-chan bring it up himself. But yeah, are you Haru-chan, are you?”

Ren… Ran…. He could have sworn he’d heard those names before.

“You’re Makoto’s siblings, right?”

Ran let out a gasp of surprise. “How did you…You know onii-chan?!”

Makoto’s siblings were as opposite from his parents as could be. They seemed to be far more interested in how he knew their brother over the fact he clearly wasn’t human. The pair rambled off over half a dozen questions at him before he even managed to confirm that yes, yes he was a mer _man_ and he did indeed know their brother quite well.

Another wave of dizziness passed over him and he pressed his fists to his temples.

“Are you… okay?” asked Ren. He seemed to be quieter than his sister, but better at noticing things. “Don’t mermaids need water to live?”

Ignoring the fact that they still didn’t seem to quite grasp that he was male, Haruka made an effort to sit straight again. “I can go a while without water… but I’ve been out of it for too long now.” He was definitely weaker to drying out compared to his three-day stint before. Probably because he couldn’t rewet his tail whenever he wanted.

The pair of human calves traded a look, and before he knew it Ran had grabbed his tail and Ren was tugging at his elbow. Haruka let out a whimper of confusion, but was shushed by Ran with a pat on the dorsal fin.

“If you need water we’ll put you in the bathtub. Then you can have all the water you want!”

 _Bath-tub._ Another strange human enigma. He was apprehensive, but he’d never known a single calf to be malicious, and Makoto’s siblings seemed genuinely concerned about his fading spells. Cautiously he let them lead him up the stairs (the pair lugging his tail as he wiggled his way up on his elbows like a graceless seal) and towards a doorway just past Makoto’s.

The room was smaller than Makoto’s, the lighting harsher and more sterile. Against the far wall was a white object that Ran was now fiddling around as Ren guided him to the edge. It was the cleanest tide pool Haruka had ever seen, rock replaced with thick plastic so clean it almost hurt the eyes. The edge Ran had been playing with appeared to have several shiny bumps and sticks, one of which was now spilling water into the waiting basin below.

 _Bath-tub._ Seemed like a worthwhile human invention.

It took little time for the two siblings to help him into the tub, and Haru let out a noise of surprise when his tail touched _warm_ water, warmer than tidal pools on a scorching hot day. At his shock Ran had apologized, adjusting the nubs and soon enough the _bath-tub_ was filled with lovely, wonderful lukewarm water. His headache began to ebb away as the water line rose to his chest.

“Do you think mom and dad will be mad we’re up in the middle of the night?”

Ran shrugged at her brother’s question. “They’re up, onii-chan’s up, Haru-chan’s up. They can’t blame us if they’re up too.”

She pulled up a towel to sit on and stared at Haruka with burning interest. The merman ducked lower in the water.

“So Haru-chan, how did you and onii-chan meet?”

* * *

Makoto had gone over this four times now, and his parents still hadn’t warmed up to the idea that their eldest was now friends with a merman.

“You were swimming with him _alone?”_

“You’ve been sneaking out to meet him _how_ _many_ times?”

“ _Rin-kun knew about this?_ ”

“Yessssss,” he groaned, wanting nothing more but to get Haru back in the ocean and take a _very_ long nap. “Rin was the one who brought him here to see me after I got sick. He was _worried_ about me and wanted to check on me.”

“And Rin thinks this is completely normal?”

“No… he wasn’t exactly crazy about it at the start but now he and Haru get along pretty well now. It’s probably only a matter of time before Rin insists on trying to race him.”

“But he agrees a mermaid is weird and unnatural? Is he some kind of science experiment?”

Makoto was one ounce of energy away from throwing his hands up in exasperation. _“No, he’s not._ And yes, Rin agrees it’s weird but he’s been really good and keeping things slow and careful so that we all stay safe.”

“He brought a mermaid into my house,” sniffed his mother.

“ _I agree_ that was over the top, but that was Rin’s idea, _not mine!_ ”

“Look, Makoto,” said his father, the ever democratic one. “I know this Haru seems to be safe and friendly around you but he’s still technically a wild creature. How do we know he isn’t going to turn around and hurt you one day? You’re a strong young man, but if you were vulnerable one time he might try and do something. We’re just worried something will happen to you.”

Makoto sucked in a breath. He couldn’t say Haru had never done anything to scare him before, truth be told he’s just managed to get over that entire incident only a week or so ago after he’d been invited to meet Haruka’s family. The whole thing had been so intimate, letting him approach two creatures he’d never be able to otherwise and making him feel so incredibly safe even out so far from shore. He’d been trusted so much in order to do that, trying to bridge the gap between both their worlds that Makoto could hardly say that Haru wasn’t serious about him.

He had Haruka’s word, the apology and the effort the merman had been putting in to their meetings to help mend their bond. He had watched Haruka struggle through so many foreign customs and items, from computers to fire to popcorn, just to keep Makoto feeling safe at Rin’s request even when he could tell plain as day Haruka was scared of all the newness that was bombarding him left, right, and center. No, he couldn’t say that Haruka had never hurt him, but he knew there wasn’t a part of Haru that ever wanted to do it.

“I trust Haru completely.” He said the words slowly, deliberately, as he looked point blank at the concerned faces in front of him.

His parents exchanged looks, Mom worried, Dad uneasy but trying to remain collected for all of them. “I know you might feel that way…” started Dad.

“He would never hurt anyone, unless he was convinced they were trying to hurt someone close to him.” Makoto crossed his arms, wanting nothing more for the conversation to be over with.

The three of them sat there at the kitchen table. His mother fiddling with her pajamas as she pretended she wasn’t bothered by how insistent he was that Haru was harmless. His father was drumming his fingers on the table, phone sitting in front of him as a constant reminder that one wrong fact would send Haruka into a research facility faster than he could blink.

It was then that Ran marched through the door, here presence cutting through the tension in the room like a knife, making a beeline to the pantry. Makoto and his parents watched in disbelief as she full-out ignored them, opening up a cabinet and rooting around for something only she knew.

“Ran, honey,” asked mom. “Why are you up and what are you looking for?”

Ran shrugged at the first question, head finally emerging from between the shelves as she grabbed a can of something. “Haru-chan was hungry, so I’m getting him some fish.”

“Haru….”

“….chan?”

All three of them were frozen, staring at her as if she’d suddenly announced she was moving away to join the circus and she never wanted to see them again. Ran seemed to take notice.

“What’s wrong with you guys? You’ve all met him, right?”

“Ran…” asked Mom, fighting to keep her voice even. “Where’s Ren?”

His little sister gave her a funny look. “In the bathroom with Haru-chan.”

Before Ran had even finished her reply Mrs. Tachibana had bolted from the table, taking the stairs two at a time. The rest of the Tachibanas scrambled to keep up, the three of them screeching around the corner just as Mrs. Tachibana threw open the bathroom door.

 _“DON’T YOU DARE LAY A-“_ she started, but as the rest of her family crowed into the doorframe her threat fell silent.

Ren was sitting up on the edge of the tub in his pajamas, holding a manga out in front of Haruka’s nose. The merman was stretched out in the tub, a wet cloth over his head and what looked suspiciously like hair barrettes littering his bangs. The two were in the middle of a very involved conversation.

“So where do the _poke-ay-mon_ go when he takes out those balls?”

“Haru-channn, I already told you. They go into the pokeballs until Red needs them to come out later.”

“But there’s no way that big whale with ears and legs can fit in there.” Haruka looked genuinely concerned at the fact. Ren shook his head, flipping back in the book to somewhere near the beginning.

“No, see, _here!_ The professor tells Red how the pokeballs work. Pokemon get turned into energy, then they go into the pokeball where it’s like a special personalized home for them. See? It’s all safe, and Snorlax doesn’t mind at all. Oh, hi mom!”

Ren had finally noticed the rest of his family squashing themselves into the narrow doorway (two broad shouldered men, a woman and a pushy sister did not an easy fit make). He waved enthusiastically at everyone, Haru copying with a timid raised hand, and held up the manga in his lap.

“Haru-chan and I are reading Pokemon! We were playing twenty questions with Ran earlier to keep him awake, but we got bored.”

“Pokemon…” said Mrs. Tachibana weakly. “You’re reading… Pokemon…”

Haruka turned the page and pointed at a panel. “This one looks like a seahorse.”

She looked like she was about to go into shock “Yes… yes it does…”

Ran took the opportunity to wriggle her way between their parents legs and rush over to present what looked like a can of tuna to the duo in the bath. Haruka looked at it tentatively and Makoto couldn’t help but remember the first time he and Rin had offered him a popsicle (they were now some of Haru’s favourites, particularly the light blue ones). Under the twins’ gentle urging he dipped a finger in – Ren warning him about the sharp edges on the can – and hooked out a mouthful before offering some to both of them.

All the while Makoto and his parents watched Haruka interact with the twins. It hadn’t been how he’d thought he might have them meet. No, ideally it would have been a hot summer day, slightly overcast as he brought them down to the beach in their swimsuits and Haruka would be out in the shallows with Rin. Makoto would lean down next to them and make them pinky promise never to tell a soul, and his little siblings would cross their hearts and link fingers with him before they all waded out to meet the merman that was constantly changing his life.

The setting was definitely different, their well worn family bathroom, the dingy tile and bucket of bath toys, but the trio was exactly as how he’d hoped. Haruka embracing the twins full out, playing with them and listening to them the same gentle way he’d seen Haru do with that baby dolphin. Ren and Ran were excited and eager to learn, peppering Haru with questions as he ate (“have you ever had canned tuna before Haru-chan?” “have you ever had _chocolate?”_ ) until Haruka averted his eyes and began blowing bubbles in the tub and they caught on to his uneasiness and started telling things about themselves instead.

A hand rested on Makoto’s shoulder, jolting him out of his train of thought. His dad smiled and tilted his head towards his mother.

Mom’s eyes were watering, lips pinched together, but the corners turned upwards into a smile as she watched her two young children coax a merman double their size to use a spoon instead of his fingers. Haruka fumbled with it, dropping it into the bath twice with a defeated pout and holding the defective article out to them only to have Ran demonstrate yet again.

“He can stay….” she said as Haruka finally managed to get a spoonful of fish up to his mouth. “You can keep him here until tomorrow night, and then he goes back to where he belongs.”

Makoto looked at her with wide-eyed surprise, nearly tackling her into the doorframe as he gave her a bone-crushing hug. Dad let out a chuckle and ruffled his hair.

“Thank you…” he gushed as he continued to hug the living daylights out of her. “Thank you thank you _thank you_ I promise he’s harmless he won’t be any trouble I’ll take him back first thing tomorrow night.” His mother’s own amused laugh tickled against his clavicle as she extracted herself from his hug.

“Now that we’ve dealt with all this and it seems like everyone is okay, I think it’s about time we all go back to bed. Right, you two?”

The twins pouted at their mother.

“We’re not tired!”

“We wanna stay with Haru-chan longer!”

“Can he stay mom? Please please please please pleeeeeeeeease?”

“Come on you two munchkins,” said Mr. Tachibana as he hoisted one twin over each shoulder. I think it’s about time _some_ little rascals go to sleep.” Ren and Ran continued to protest long after they’d been carted off out of the room. Mom smoothed Makoto’s hair down.

“You need to get some sleep too, especially since you’re well enough now to go to school tomorrow.”

Makoto began to open his mouth to protest, to call outcry at having to leave Haruka here alone in the tub all day long but Mom was giving him one of _those_ looks and he just shrugged defeatedly.

“Can I at least tell Haru everything’s going to be okay first?” Mom gave him one last pat on the cheek (wrinkling her nose as she touched some of the remaining dried blood) and wished him goodnight. As soon as she was out the door Makoto slid over to the tub.

“Are you okay? Are you feeling dizzy? Are you bleeding anymore?” His hands were hovering everywhere, unsure of where to check first until Haruka grabbed his wrists and lowered them to the rim of the tub.

“I’m better now, the water’s helping and my tongue stopped bleeding.” He gave Makoto’s palms a little pat. “Your siblings are kind of… noisy…”

Makoto managed to chuckle at that remark. No denying the twins could be a pair of chatterboxes when they wanted to be. “They didn’t bother you too much?”

The merman shook his head. “They’re just… different. The calves in my pod are vocal, but they’re just not quite as… interrogating.”

“Mmm, yeah they can be a bit of a handful sometimes,” Makoto trailed off, fiddling with Haru’s fingers in his own. He’d almost forgotten why he was here in the first place; he was far too absorbed in the fact that Haruka was awake and alive and well and everything was finally just-

“I thought you had… you know… when you were unconscious…” The sting of tears was coming back to his eyes again. “I kept thinking about all the things we’d never get to do again…what would happen if you got taken away… I just-“

“Hey,” soothed Haruka as he rested his forhead against Makoto’s. “I’m alive, and I’ll get better. That’s good, right?”

“Mmhmm,” sniffed Makoto. “But still,, it’s my fault for you getting hurt. I mean, I was the one that tripped.”

Haruka pulled away, eyebrow cocked. “Really?”

The brunette looked at him in confusion. “It’s totally my fault. I was the one that got sick and couldn’t come see you so you got worried and then had to come see me and then I was-“

He was silenced with a hand over his mouth.

“Makoto…” said Haru, giving him a firm look. “What did you just tell me today?”

Makoto looked back at Haru like a stupefied guppy, his mouth opening and closing dumbly. What _had_ he said to Haru today? I mean, they’d talked an awful lot as they waited out nightfall and all. Haurka rolled his eyes.

_I’m not blaming you Makoto. Would you want me blaming myself if we swapped positions?_

Makoto couldn’t be sure where the thought had come from. He’d been staring at Haruka, trying to get some clue as to what he was referring to, and the words echoed through his head. It was just like before… that brief, fleeting instant where Haru’s body language was crystal clear.

“You’re right,” he said softly. “I’ll try not to blame myself for this.”

“Good.” Haruka reached up and began washing Makoto’s face, smears of rust tinted water spiraling down his fingers. “I’m not either.”

They shared a private moment, Haruka continuing to gently rub Makoto’s cheek with his wet fingers, Makoto’s own digits dangling over the bath’s side to skirt above Haru’s tail. It seemed to precious to spoil with speech. Only when the final traces of blood were wiped clean did he finally managed to speak.

“Mom’s agreed that you should go back to the ocean the first chance we get. I’ll bring you back tomorrow night, after I’m back from school.”

“You have to go tomorrow?”

Makoto pouted. “I’ve already missed two days. She’s not going to let me miss more if she has any say in it.” He watched Haruka’s reaction carefully. “Are you going to be okay here for a day?”

There was an uneasy air, something nervous in Haruka he couldn’t quite pin a source too. “If it’s just a day, can’t be helped.”

“You sure?”

“No one’s going to know about me being here?” He could see Haruka’s grip tighten on the porcelain.

“Just my family, and I’m going to get them all to swear not to tell a soul.”

Haru nodded. “Okay then. I’ll be alright. We should probably sleep now.”

“Yeah.” Makoto made to stand, only to find himself stopped by Haruka holding his wrist. Trembling blues looked up at him.

“Can you stay a little longer?”

* * *

 

The next morning Mrs. Tachibana wandered into the bathroom, rubbing her eyes and wondering very much what she was going to do this the merman in her tub for the next twelve hours. She stopped however, as soon as her slippered feet touched bathmat. 

Her son was slumped against the edge of the tub, one hand in his lap, the other hooked on the side of the tub. His head was slumped against his shoulder, bangs muddled together with the darker locks of the sleeping mermaid beside him. She watched as Haruka shifted in the tub, hand closing around Makoto's fingers.

Quietly she shut the door, deciding to let them sleep for a while longer.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off I'd just like to say this is horribly late and I'm sorry. Writer's block happened, then job applications, and to top it off pipetting day in day out is starting to mess up my entire right arm. No excuse, but that's why it's been so long since an update.

Sayuri Tachibana was on edge. Despite her son’s reassurances, her husbands gentle comforting and the twins’ instant captivation with Haruka there was something missing from Makoto’s explanation. Maybe it was just a lasting effect of seeing Makoto unconscious, the merman’s lips coated with blood against his neck, but being in the same room as him set her motherly intuition into a frenzy. But he’d been so good with the twins, showing that same gentle patience with them Makoto had always had with young children… he couldn’t be all bad.

He’d given her her fair share of space in the bathroom this morning at least, ducking out of sight the moment she walked in and remembered the bathroom was no long private (she’d still brought her toothbrush and face cloth downstairs to the kitchen rather than wash up next to him). He was quiet and undemanding to say the least.

No, what currently had her so alert right now was the text Makoto had just sent her:

**Could you please check up on Haru for me? He seemed really scared this morning and I want to make sure he isn’t freaking out now or anything. Maybe bring him something to eat if it’s not too much trouble? He seemed to like the congee you made me yesterday**

Sayuri chewed her nail. Makoto was clearly worried, even though he was trying not to come across as such in his text. The fact it was longer than just “How’s Haru?” was sign enough he’d been focusing on this for most of the morning. But the last thing she wanted to do now was approach the strange boy…thing in her bathtub. Her phone let out another ding

**He’s not hugging his tail, is he?**

_Well, that was that_ she sighed. There’d be no calming Makoto down until she checked on Haruka. Carefully she ladled some of the day old congee into a plastic bowl, and, with a second thought, added a small sliver of trout from breakfast on top. She’d pop her head in, see if he was keeping calm, and offer him some food. That’d be that and the two of them could wait for Makoto to come home in separate ends of the house.

She made her way up the stairs (careful not to trip on the stuffed rabbit one of the twins had left at the top) and gently knocked on the bathroom door. No response. She tried again, to the same result, and with a sigh pushed the door open.

Clearly Haruka hadn’t heard her knock. The merman draped over the edge of the tub like a wet noodle, tail slung back in the water while his arms and chest dangled over haphazardly as he scribbled away on a sheet of paper. At the sound of the door he jolted up in shock, dislodging himself and flopping onto the floor with a wet, graceless “schlap”. Sayuri watched him scramble to cover up the paper, bright red splotches of embarrassed blush blooming across his cheeks.

“I- I didn’t know you needed to use… Give me one second… Just one…” Haruka slung his arms over the tub and shoved his face back into the water. His rear stuck out over the side, hiding like a two-year old that doesn’t fully understand covering your face isn’t enough to be out of sight. She carefully sidestepped around the stack of papers (actually, a notebook she noticed) and leaned around for a better view.

Haruka had his eyes screwed shut. Sayuri sat down on the toilet lid to wait. She was a patient woman and if she could wait until the twins were done with their temper tantrums she could wait out a mermaid in a bathtub.

Haruka surfaced several minutes later, shyly looking at him from under his sodden lashes.

“Ran told me it was bad manners not to hide underwater when people come into a bathroom,” he mumbled. “I didn’t hear you come in…”

Makoto’s mother looked at him in confusion. “And just what made my Ran tell you that?”

“To teach me human manners?” asked the merman.

Sayuri shook her head. Dear lord this Haru was so innocent. “I don’t quite think that was exactly the reason she said that… Did she need to use the toilet?”

A blank look. She pointed to her seat.

“This. It’s a place to uhm… dispose of certain bodily wastes. You’re not exactly supposed to do it with company, but I suppose you wouldn’t exactly know.”

A look of understanding dawned on the merman’s face. He pointed to his hips with a knowing look.

“So that’s how humans do it… you have to sit on something...” he scratched his head. “Makoto never told me.”

She sniffed. “Well, Makoto’s more the type that’s a bit too polite to bring that type of thing up. He’s never been good at being blunt.”

The two of them awkwardly avoided looking at each other; her, fiddling with her wedding ring, him carefully wiping his hands on the bathmat before picking up the notebook. Sayuri watched with interest as he flipped the page back over to a sketch of a bay – an incredibly detailed one at that – and began shading in a rock. There were wave crests and fishing boats and trees and birds – it was Iwatobi’s harbor. There, unmistakably, in blinding black and white detail. Without being conscious of it she found herself leaning over Haruka’s shoulder, watching as he made small, timid strokes of graphite to shape a wisp of a cloud.

A lock of hair fell from her shoulder, brushing against Haruka’s forearm and making him jump yet again like a startled bird. The tip of the pencil snapped off in his alarm, an ugly black mark stabbing his beautiful work.

“Ah!” she gasped. “I’m sorry, I just… well… it was beautiful. I just wanted to see all the details you had put in and now…” she trailed off. Haruka was looking at the broken pencil as if he’d just killed an infant. “I suppose I ruined it.”

The merman nodded, swallowing hard in the spitting image of Ren when he tried not to show upset he really was in front of his sister.

“Here,” she said gently, extending her palm. “I can fix it. It’s not broken for good.”

Haruka looked at her in sad confusion, but passed the damaged article on to her all the same. Sayuri pulled a pencil sharpener out from her apron pocket (is was full of small trinkets and tools just for occasions like these, except those usually involved two of her _own_ children) and slowly began to twist the pencil back to full health.

“How on earth did you ever learn to draw like that?” At Haruka’s awkward shuffling she elaborated. “There’s very few humans out there with that much skill and attention to detail, so I was incredibly impressed when I saw your drawing. It’s not a bad thing, I was just curious about how you ever learned to hold a pen.”

“Makoto,” mumbled the merman. “Makoto taught me. He gave me a book that can touch water and showed me how to hold it. It had some of his and Ren and Ran’s drawings in it too.”

Sayuri inspected the re-sharpened pencil. She did remember a day where her children were all drawing together in the same book. Was it that one? Had Makoto told Ren and Ran about this mermaid before he’d told her? She sighed and handed the pencil back to Haruka; she had to get used to the fact her little boy was growing up. He wasn’t always going to run into her arms to share things anymore. Things like how he’d grown so attached to this creature.

Haruka gently reached for the pencil, looking in awe at how pointed it had become, but her grip stayed fixed on the other end. He looked up at her, uncertain, and gave it a weak tug. She held firm, waiting until all of his attention was fixed on her face.

"What is Makoto to you?"

Haruka looked back at her in confusion, a flicker of fear flashing across his startlingly blue eyes for the briefest of instants, and then it was gone. His mouth opened and closed, but nothing came out. Sayuri crossed her legs and stared down at him from her porcelain throne.

The merman's fingers wormed their way in the fibres of the bath mat, his gaze locked on her feet as he tried to find his words.

"I… no… For a long time I thought humans were dangerous... That all they'd want to do to me was take me away. Makoto… Makoto was the first one I felt wouldn't do that, he's..." Haruka's eyelids fluttered in remembrance, "he's the first one I ever knew was safe. He's... he's my..."

Sayuri leaned forward, a beckoning hand insistently urging him to finish that last sentence. He was his what? His exception? His prize?  She leaned back as Haruka lifted his head to look at her, lips pinched together with nerves.

"He's special... my closest human... No, my closest... Friend."

She sat back, sucking in a breath at the proclamation. The way he'd said those words, how he clenched his hands in his lap, how he made himself meet her eyes, everything about it felt like a declaration of love to her. It was as though he was asking permission to marry Makoto - although technically he was confessing to their friendship and wasn't showing her a ring he was planning to give her son. But the way it seemed like he was asking for her approval, desperately hoping for permission to stay in contact with him despite all the nagging worries she had. Why Makoto fallen asleep next to the bathtub was only one of them.

Her silence seemed to unsettle Haruka. His hands were gripping onto the pages of the notebook for dear life, the drawing of the bay crinkling as his fingers dug into the graphite waves. She was well aware that what she said now would be final. However she reacted, that would set the limits on how they could be. 

"Makoto said that too."

Haruka jerked in confusion as she continued on.

"Last night, when he was trying to convince us not to have you taken away, he said he trusted you. _'I trust Haruka completely'_ , those were his exact words. He refused to talk after that, as if all it was needed to be said. 

Haruka nodded slowly, mouth open in the smallest of 'O's. "He trusts me completely..." he repeated. "Just like..."

"Mhmm. Seems like both of you have a lot of faith in each other."

Haruka smiled shyly. Such an adorable expression. She was starting to see what had drawn Makoto to him in the first place. She reached onto the back of the toilet and handed him the bowl of congee.

"Here, Makoto asked me to make sure you had something to eat today." Haruka accepted it gratefully and slowly loaded a small mouthful onto the spoon with a quiet 'thanks'. Sayuri made to leave, pausing at the door.

"So long as you never do anything to break that trust, I don’t mind you and Makoto being with each other.”

Haruka swallowed and gave her a rapid bob of the head. His eyes were sparkling in awe.

"Rin's already told me if I ever let him get hurt I'm sushi."

Sayuri chuckled. "That’s protective of him. I mean at the ocean of course. Not that you aren't a good guest, but I think everyone would prefer you not to be in the bathtub all the time. 

It was like she'd told him he'd won the lottery, or whatever the aquatic equivalent was (it was a lifetime supply of mackerel. Its always a lifetime supply of mackerel). Haruka paused for a second, lips pulled into a pout.

"What's sushi?"

“I'll let Makoto explain to you.”

She shut the door, deciding not to let the merman imagine being rolled in a cocoon of rice and eaten. She leaned against the cool wood and pulled out her phone.

**He's doing just fine now.**

* * *

Ren and Ran chattered the entire way down to the beach, running circles around Makoto and Haruka in the wheelchair until Makoto had to ask them to stop before he was too dizzy to steer straight. It took a good half hour, but then again they were avoiding stairs and main streets.

The whole outing had been a circus in itself. Haruka had refused to let Makoto carry him down the stairs in fear of him tripping and hurting himself. Ren and Ran were loading toys and snacks onto the wheelchair, each one becoming proportionally less important as time went on. It took his mother’s firm tone to convince them that _no, Haru-chan does not need any toys and he has food back home to eat_. Then it was another 15 minutes for the three Tachibana children to move Haruka down one stair at a time, the twins supporting Haru’s tail, leaving him and Haruka to blush awkwardly with one another as he supported the merman’s chest on his shoulders as they crawled snail-like on their knees.

But one they were out of the house everything had gone smoothly. Any passing glance was directed at the twins over himself and Haru, the pair of them managing to catch the other up on their days between Ren and Ran telling them all about theirs. To anyone on the streets, Haruka was just another boy in a wheelchair with slightly to large clothes.

As they bumped their way down the beach path Haruka’s whole being lit up. There was the little gasp of recognition as the smell of salt floated past their noses, his entire body perking up like a puppy when the word ‘walk’ is mentioned. Makoto couldn’t help but smile at Haruka’s gasp as the bay came into view.

The twins dashed on off ahead, laughing and jumping through the sand down to the water’s edge, running back as waves threatened to catch their heels before rushing forward yet again to test their fate. Makoto was more careful. Checking no one else was at the beach, he pulled off his shoes and pants to uncover his swim trunks as Haruka peeled off Makoto’s blue sweater. He couldn’t help but meet Haru’s smile with his own. Haru’s whole face was lit up, eyes dancing brighter than the ocean at midday, his lips echoing the sentiment with a quiet reserved curve that was infinitely cuter than any wide toothed grin Makoto could ever imagine.

“You ready?”

Haruka nodded and held out his arms. The brunette scooped him up, blanket falling to the ground as Haruka wrapped his arms around Makoto’s neck and pressed his hips against Makoto’s stomach. Ren and Ran stopped in their game to watch their brother make his way down to the shoreline. Ran clapped her hands and squealed as Makoto began to wade through the surf, Ren giving his own squeak of excitement.

They’d done it. Haruka was home safe and sound. No one would take him away from him. He let out a chuckle of relief and pressed his chin to the top of Haru’s raven locks. His family _approved_ , or in the very least, saw Haruka for the kind, gentle creature he was. The twins loved him, and his parents seemed to be warming up to Haruka too.

Haruka squeezed Makoto’s shoulder. They’d reached waist deep water now and the merman’s flukes were brushing the surface.

“We got you back safe,” choked Makoto. “After everything, it all worked out.”

Haruka hugged himself closer. “I should have know you’d manage it somehow.” His breath tickled Makoto’s cheek as he chewed his lip in hesitation. “I just wanted to… I need to know… your mother asked me what you were to me.”

Makoto stiffened. “What did you say?”

“I said you were the closest person to me… or at least, I meant that when I said closest friend.”

He held his breath. It wasn’t like they could tell his parents what they really were. They probably would never be able to, no matter how much they wanted to. Simply befriending Haru had caused them to fret so much already, telling them he dreamed of kissing Haru, that sometimes he dreamed of Haru… to him… He’d never be able to ask for their permission to be engaged. That was their relationship, a secret that demanded to be kept secret by the order of nature.

“Makoto?”

The brunette blinked.

“Oh, uh, sorry,” he managed. Haruka rubbed a thumb against his eyelid and only then did he realize he was tearing up. “I just… I realized… we’ll probably have to keep saying that forever. Even if we’re more than friends, we can’t tell anyone.”

Haruka’s excitement at returning to the sea seemed to wane at his words. “That’s not true. We told Rin. He’s accepted it. I’ve told my pod, and they accepted you. We might have to be careful about _who_ , but we don’t have to pretend it’s not there.” He bit his lip, waiting for a response.

Makoto hugged Haruka closer. He could feel his heartbeat in his own chest, Haruka’s heartbeat through the hand that cradled his neck. Slowly, deliberately, he placed a soft kiss on the merman’s forehead.

“It’s there.”

He lowered Haru into the water, welling up with tears for possibly the twelfth time in 24 hours at the pure relief that radiated off Haruka’s body. The merman swam an experimental circle around him, before flicking his tail and diving below the surface. Seconds later he broke the surface, breaching in a graceful arc that drew ‘ooh’s and ‘aah’s from the twins. He watched as Haru slid back into the depths with cat-like grace, waiting for him to surface again at the mouth of the bay. Instead he felt two arms wrap around his waist.

Haruka looked up at him, glistening with salty brine as he always should. He held himself close, face rubbing against Makoto’s hip bone, and they stood in silence, letting their unspoken words drift to one another like the waves against them.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've already got a good portion of the next chapter drafted, so the next update should come within a week! Looking forward to it ;D


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am weak. Horribly, horribly, weak and after 14 chapters we're back to the entire reason I started writing this fic: gratuitous scenes of Haru fucking Makoto.

"You fell down the fucking _stairs?_ ”

“Yeah Rin, but I’m fine, don’t worry, Haru pro-“

“You were still sick and you insisted you were _fine_ carrying him _all the way_ back but you-“

“Rin.”

“-go and trip on the _fucking stairs_ and nearly kill the two of you!”

“ _Rin._ ”

“And to top it all off you woke your parents up to him too?! _Fuck_. I _knew_ I should have just gotten you to lower him out the window to me instead.”

“ _RIN!”_

“Huh? Oh…” mumbled Rin, no longer cursing into his phone. “Yeah?”

Makoto sighed and readjusted himself on the couch. “Rin, we’re fine. Haru is safe and back in the ocean. My family is keeping him a secret. And you bringing him there in the first place helped up make up even better than before. Everything worked out.”

“Everything, huh?”

“Rin,” said Makoto again with his trademarked gentle firmness. “I’m safe and happy and alive. Same with Haru. We’re better at understanding each other now, I swear sometimes I can almost read what he’s thinking, or maybe I’m better at reading his body language now.” He smiled. “It’s all thanks to you. You’re the whole reason we ever managed to patch things up with each other. Even though you can be a completely overprotective dad sometimes…”

“ _Mako…”_

He sat up, grinning. “What?” He could hear Rin huff into the phone.

“No way our goddamn group _mom_ is calling me dad.”

“Well you’re awfully overprotective, no wonder Gou doesn’t want to talk to you about dating.”

“ _She WHAT?”_

“Kidding! Rin I’m kidding… she’s way too focused on whipping our butts into shape for next season to pay any attention to any boys.” _Anything but their muscles that is,_ he added to himself. “But really, thank you for everything. If you ever need me to do something for you, just ask.”

“Funny you should mention that…” Makoto could hear Rin riffling through papers on his side, “…Gou’s birthday is in a week and a half and I kind of need help finding her a present she’d like. Also a cake. And a list of her friends… and basically just help me plan a whole surprise party.”

Makoto laughed. “Sure thing Rin! I’ll send you some ideas tomorrow.”

“Thanks Mako. See you soon.”

And with that Rin’s voice was gone. Makoto tucked his phone away and snuggled back into the sofa to watch the rest of his anime.

_Yeah, it would be smooth sailing from here._

* * *

_Smooth sailing._

_As if._ Saying that the other day had probably jinxed him. Despite the current lack of misunderstandings, sickness, worried families or sheer inability to talk about their feelings with one another, there was still one obstacle he’d yet to tackle.

Makoto still wasn’t getting the hang of bubble rings yet.

It had been at least three weeks since Haru had first shown him, and even with numerous hours spent practicing in the bath before bed he still couldn’t form anything other than a garbled mass of regular ones.

Haruka had been patient, not doubt about that, and even the other dolphins had picked up that the new mammal that visited them time to time was horribly inept at anything to do with whistles, bubbles or any other activity that involved his mouth. For what felt like the umpteenth time Haruka demonstrated a triad of bubble loops, quickly swimming through them with a flick of his tail before they broke apart. The dolphin calf that was so attached to him responded with one of her own.

“You have to be doing something wrong with your lips,” insisted Haru. “Here…” He pulled Makoto’s hand against his lips before dropping below the surface. The brunette floated in suspense, heartbeat racing as Haru guided his fingers across the soft expanse of his mouth, circling the bud of his tongue peeking out before blowing a ring around Makoto’s wrist. He did it twice more, those scaldingly blue eyes watching Makoto’s growing flush from beneath the waves.

“Alright, your turn.” The merman looked expectantly at Makoto, as if what he’d just done hadn’t been the most sensual possible way to teach the boy. Makoto swallowed, ducking his face partway under the water before stopping.

“Wait,” he said, reaching out for Haruka’s wrist. “Check if I’m doing it right.”

Before he could let Haru protest he dove beneath the waves, bringing those pale, slender digits up to his lips and letting them ghost across the bottom one. Slowly, teasingly, he placed them one by one against the smooth skin, fighting the urge to smile as he felt Haru’s pulse quicken in his thumb.

He was less focused on his bubble technique than making Haruka as equally flustered as himself right now. He gave the pads of Haru’s fingers a few more gentle passes before guiding the index against the pucker of his lips. His warm tongue circled the nail bed once, twice, three times before slowly drawing it deeper into his mouth. He felt Haruka’s entire arm stiffen in surprise, and, taking the stillness of his companion as a good sign, began to suckle on it between licks.

Makoto surfaced with a gasp, Haru’s index finger still in place against the roof of his mouth (he’d relaxed it a little now). The surprise on his face – it was like a 10-pound tuna had slapped him in the face and told him his mother was fat – was too much. Makoto practically spat the digit out laughing.

“Why… what did…” Haruka’s brain seemed to have temporarily shut down. Makoto cocked his head innocently.

“You’re saying when you ran my fingers over your mouth it was perfectly platonic…”

“Well,” Haru started, only to fall off as Makoto started caressing the merman’s hand against his face. It was like a switch had been flipped in the boy, going from sweet and innocent to seductive as hell. “Maybe 5% wasn’t platonic.”

Makoto kissed his knuckles.

“30%.”

A caramel eyebrow raised.

“Oh for…” he gave in, crossing the distance between them and cutting off Makoto’s sass once and for all with his lips.

It had been ages since their last kiss, so long in fact Makoto had forgotten the feeling of Haru’s lips against his own. Yes, they’d snuck short ones here or there in the past weeks, little pecks on the forehead or cheeks when Rin wasn’t looking, but that was an entirely different world. This was intense, hot and moist and everything other than innocent and sweet. Makoto would slide his tongue against the rim of Haruka’s teeth, and Haruka would reply with a taunting swipe beneath Makoto’s tongue. He’d suck Haru’s bottom lip as he pulled away for a breath, only to be drawn back with a nip on his own.

For everything he gave Haruka would reply with some added, until there was nothing in the world except this dance of lips between the pair of them. Nothing else mattered in the moment.

He fell his knee graze against something rough and hard, only realizing then that Haruka had pulled them up into the shallows of their little islet. Makoto leaned forward for another kiss, wanting nothing more to keep kissing until their mouths ran dry, but Haruka pushed him back, blushing from tip to tail.

“M’koto…” he mumbled, eyes shyly averted from his boyfriend. The brunette looked down to where Haruka’s gaze had flickered to for an instant, finally noticing what was sitting between his legs.

“Oh.” A familiar tightness was pressing up against the front of his legskins. “Sorry about that, it’s been a while, y’know, since we did this.”

Haruka squeaked in embarrassment. “No, not that… I…”

_He what? Haruka was- ohhhhhhh._

The rosy head of Haru’s erection was poking out of his tail. Under Makoto’s gaze it gave a little twitch, almost as if it was trying to hide itself back inside the hidden slit.

“I’m sorry! I’ll go off and deal with it, you don’t have to stay.”

“What?” That wasn’t what Makoto’d expected to hear at all. He ran a thumb along Haruka’s hipbone, watching in fascination as Haru’s body fought against every urge to buck into the stimulation. “Haru, it’s okay. Look…” Makoto pawed at the front of his jammers, pulling out his own hardening cock. “I’m hard too.”

It took a moment for Haruka to process, lips open, face gorgeously flushed as he stared at the mast jutting out against it’s owner’s chest.  His breaths fell in heavy gasps, nipples pert and attentive, bangs _oh so_ mussed and yet Makoto wanted to see them even more so. The brunette’s member throbbed at the sight of him. It was so… _perfect._ His entrance quivered, tensing and shivering in longing.

“Haru…” he leaned over the merman, legs straddling the tail until their foreheads were flush against one anothers, linking their hands together. “I really want Haru… down here.” He guided trembling fingers down to the base of his spine. “I’ve missed… having Haru’s… inside…”

Each string of words was punctuated by a kiss on the jaw, teeth scraping gently against the bone until at last his lips caressed Haruka’s ear.

“…me.”

He pulled back ever so slowly, green orbs fixed and lidded as he waited for Haru’s response. There was a beat of silence between them, Haruka’s eyes shimmering and dancing like the ocean on the brightest of days, then the crash of lips together once more.

Haruka’s hands ran everywhere, through Makoto’s hair, down his spine, across his nipples, pinching and rubbing every last inch of exposed skin within reach. Makoto let one hand settle in a tangle of those raven locks, the other tracing downwards to tease the bud now curling out of Haru’s slit. He rolled it between his fingers, massaging the head in his calloused hands, teasing it further and further until it willingly made it’s way into the palm of his hand.

Makoto scooted further up Haruka’s body, gathering their cocks together in his hand and beginning to pump in earnest. Haruka groaned into his mouth, pleasure punctuated with another tweak of Makoto’s nipples before hands began to roam south. His entire body was on fire, lusting after every last drop of Haruka.

Haruka had curled himself around Makoto, heightening the sensation of every stroke on their cocks so much so he had to let go to keep from coming right there as the merman began kneeding his ass. Instead he ground down against the merman, bringing one of his own precum-coated hands to join Haru’s at his backside.

It took some adjusting, arching his back and pressing closer against his partner, but he managed to slide one long finger between his cheeks. Haru caught on instantly, squeezing Makoto’s ass again before joining Makoto at his opening. The little orifice was crying out in need, desperately twitching as curious fingers massaged it. Haruka pushed in Makoto’s finger experimentally, smiling against the brunette’s neck as it closed around it, a wet pop escaping as he pulled it back out.

“Haru- put it ba _aack!”_ Makoto squeaked as Haruka thrust two of Makoto’s fingers back inside, pumping them in and out as a puddle of drool began to form against his shoulder. He could hear every sound Makoto was making, every last squelch and gasp escaping, and it was _glorious_. His member ground between Makoto’s and his chests, sending another ripple of pleasure up his spine and back down to his cock.

One of his own fingers joined Makoto’s, delving and loosening the opening until he felt the ring of muscle relax. Without warning he yanked both their hands free. Makoto gasped, desperately trying to clamp down on the digits as the last knuckle glided free.

The word gorgeous didn’t even begin to describe Makoto in this state. His entire body was flushed, lips swollen and wet, cheeks rosy, back arched skyward as his eyes struggled to focus in his lust ridden state. Those firm buttocks were clenching and pulsing against Haruka’s tail, and _oh it would be so nice to be inside them right now_. Even his dick echoed the rest of his body, arched, blushing and dripping with desire. 

“Haru… Haru I can’t wait,” he mewed. “Stick it in me.”

It took several seconds for the words to reach Haruka’s brain, needing to force their way through the arousal clouding his every sense. His mouth was clumsy around his words.

“I don’t know if I can give up the sight of you Makoto… fuck.” He gave those buns another enthusiastic squeeze. “I might just come looking at you.”

The brunette gave him a sour look, or at least, as sour a look as one could give when their entire body was radiating lust from every pore.

“Have it your way then.”

The air nearly shot out of Haruka’s lungs as Makoto grabbed his dick roughly, rising up on his knees above the merman, and sliding it between his legs.

He held back, keeping all but the very tip of Haruka’s cock from butting up against his entrance. His green ringed eyes never left the merman’s face as he stroked the length, grinding against it until tears of desperation began to well up in Haruka’s eyes.

“Are you ready?” he purred, and if it was at all possible Haruka felt himself grow harder a that voice.

“Do it already!”

Makoto sank down fast, taking in half of Haru before slowing at the thicker expanses of his cock, but never pausing until every exposed inch of the merman’s dick was housed inside him. It was hot, oh so hot, hotter then he’d remembered being inside of Makoto. He felt like he was melting, Makoto’s insides clamping down on him and twitching as he fought against every instinct to move, waiting for Makoto to give him the signal.

He nearly cried out as Makoto moved up on his own accord, drawing up to full height before sinking back down again and again. Makoto was… he was being ridden and _FUCK it felt amazing._ His hands made their way to Makoto’s inner thighs, massaging the sensitive flesh inches from the other’s groin but making no attempt to touch the throbbing cock. The denial only made Makoto move faster, thrusting down harder, rising up slower to milk every inch of Haru’s cock inside of him.

With each upwards pull his back would arch, pink nipples catching the dying light as drops of sweat and saltwater slid down his face, and each downwards thrust was coupled with a loud groan, back caving to reach the very deepest regions of his insides. His stomach flexed and tensed with every roll.

Makoto started to adjust his advances, shifting after each thrust, as if looking for something. “Haru…” he groaned, “move!”

The merman cocked an eyebrow, running his thumbs up Makoto’s V-line.

“Are you sure?”

Makoto huffed impatiently. “ _FUCK!_ Do it already!”

Haruka took full control, pulling Makoto higher up his hips and cocking his member inside. He gave one experimental roll of his hips, careful to rub against that special spot inside Makoto…

“Oh yes… unnn…. Haru, there!” Makoto practically melted on the spot, sinking down so fast Haruka had to pull back to keep himself from being fully engulfed. They reestablished their rhythm quickly, meeting in the middle now, stroking up against Makoto’s prostrate with every motion, building up speed faster and faster until the water was white from their churning hips. Makoto’s gasps were growing louder now, his hole clenching harder and harder. He was close, and Haruka knew it. Warmth was already pooling in his stomach, white light filling up the edges of his vision as Makoto’s hands bit down harder against his skin.

He came first, spilling his warm seed inside Makoto on the next hard thrust, letting it dribble from the entrance as he continued pounding Makoto. The brunette’s completion came a moment later with one sharp tug of his cock, spraying Haruka’s stomach and chin with cum before collapsing against the merman’s chest. His ass cheeks were still quivering around Haruka as he buried his face against the dirtied neck.

The rest of the world slowly came back into focus.

“Haru?” Makoto mumbled.

“Yeah?” said Haruka, gently stroking Makoto’s hair.

“How long has it been since we’ve done something like that?”

Haruka sighed and wiggled up the rocks to keep Makoto’s rear out of the reach of the rising tide. He mentally counted back the days, the weeks, the movie dates, and the late afternoon chatter. Past the worst four days of his life and the two weeks of unspoken, guilt-ridden longing before, right back to the moment Makoto had come back to find him, to take a risk, lose the reins, and open himself for the first time.

“Two and a half months…” he finally answered. Saying it out loud… it almost made it harder to believe how long it had been since they’d first met.

“Mmmm,” Makoto made a halfhearted attempt to extract Haru from himself, slipping on a lichen-covered rock and giving up in favor of cuddling. “I forgot what it was like, doing this.”

“Me too.” Haruka rubbed Makoto’s hips and gently eased himself out. The unconscious tightening of the entrance didn’t go unnoticed by him, silently wishing for another round but knowing better than to push Makoto.

“Hey Haru?”

“Yeah?” he replied, almost fully extracted now. Makoto’s hands slid down to meet his own, leaning a fraction of an inch closer as he lifted Haru’s pinkies off his hips.

“Let’s never go this long again.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been asked this like three times already: Haru's in the 8-9 inch range, but if he really tries to unsheathe he can reach almost 11 (rarely if ever does, because he's pretty much restricted then to moving the tip)


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have been a horrible, horrible writer who's had this sitting on her phone for 3 months half-finished and only just got back into finishing it after the season ended. I promise I'll try and get better at updating after this ridiculous hiatus >

"Oh my god you had sex, didn't you?"

Makoto had barely stepped off the train, let alone spotted Rin in the flocks of people before his friend's voice came from somewhere on his right. The redhead was leaning up against the wall, dressed in his favorite two-toned skinny jeans and looking disgustedly at Makoto from under a fedora.

"The night before my sister's birthday you go and let merboy screw you silly... Seriously Mako... You're better than this..."

"Hiiii Rin," Makoto said with a forced smile. He was desperately wishing now for a friend that wasn't both blunt and loud about things. "Nice day, isn't it?"

Rin shrugged and reached out a hand for one of the shopping bags Makoto was carrying. "Anything would be nice if I was in post-coital glow too. Now come on, let's get back to my place before Gou gets back from shopping."

Makoto fell into step with Rin, something that always came by naturally with them; his long, easy gait matched Rin's quicker, shorter one in near synch. Carefully checking to make sure there was no one looking at them, he leaned in to Rin's ear.

"How did you know?"

Rin snorted and slapped Makoto's (admittedly sore) rear. "You've got that dazed loopy smile you make at cat videos and fucking expensive chocolate desserts. Not to mention you're walking like a baby duck with a gland issue."

Makoto tensed his ass self-consciously, trying to prove for all his worth he certainly was not walking that that way. He still felt a little unsteady on his feet… they had gone at it quite a while last night - two rounds and a lot of vigorous touching in between – anyone would be a bit tired after staying up late doing that sort of thing…The new stride was starting to make him feel the after effects even more, that dull burn from Haru stretching his insides still fresh.

"Was it really that obvious?" He'd already given up on trying to fix his gait. He didn't even know what exactly about it was strange, but apparently to Rin it was more obvious than Gou's muscle obsession.  

Rin shook his head. "Probably not to a lot of people, but your smile is the same loopy-headed looking one as the time I walked in on you with your fingers up you a-"

"Rin!!" Makoto hissed.

"Ah, right, you get embarrassed talking about this shit. Okay, okay I'll drop it already."

They kept walking in near silence, only trading small quips about a store they passed or a cat charm on a girl's bag. Rin pulled him off the main strip and the pair made their way up the winding maze of side streets to the Matsuoka family home. 

Makoto had always liked the small, cozy apartment Rin's mother owned. It was different than where Rin had lived back in their elementary school days, but Matsuoka-san had done an excellent job at scooping up the well placed domicile when the market was low. Rin on the other hand complained it wasn't the same as their original house. 

"Auntie?" he called out as Rin let them into the genkan. "Anyone at home?"

"She's not here, she's got a shift until 6 at the bank but she'll be back in time for dinner." Rin shrugged off his jacket and lead the way to the living room. "Her and Gou are going to have a girl's day tomorrow."

Makoto nodded slowly, and carried the bags of drinks and decorations into the kitchen.

"Hey Mako," called Rin from the plush confines of the sofa, "you're sure Nagisa and Rei are getting her a cake, right?"

"Yes Rin." He walked back into the room with a tray of snacks.

Rin wrinkled his brow. "And you're sure they know how to get here? Because I mean if they're lost or something I can just run down to this little bakery down the street and get one. They make really cute cakes with strawberry hearts and-"

"Rin," repeated Makoto as he shoved a mochi into his friends mouth to shut him up. "They're her friends too, they know what she likes, and they hang out a lot after club activities. I'm pretty sure they've been to your house before."

"But.." began Rin, but he was interrupted by the doorbell. Makoto raised an eyebrow. "Ah geez..." he finished, extracting himself slowly from the cushions as a fresh wave of rapid doorbell rings filled the house. Nagisa. 

Makoto began hanging streamers from the ceiling in bright blues and yellows. He could hear noisy shuffling and a distinct "RINNN-CHANNN" (followed by a loud 'oof' that could only mean Nagisa had tackled Rin). The chorus of shouts and grunts made their way down the hall until Rei came into sight, giving Makoto an embarrassed wave before carrying a bakery box into the kitchen. Rin followed, dragging and over-touchy Nagisa behind him like a cape.

"I swear to god you're trying to kill me sometimes..." he grunted as he threw Nagisa onto the couch. Nagisa took it quite well.

"Well Rin-chan," he said, cuddling up to a large shark plush, "you never come to visit us, so I have to make the most of it. You're always doing stuff with Mako-chan though, such a meanie! I want to see Rin-chan too!"

Rin rolled his eyes. "I told you already! It's personal time with me and Makoto! That means no one else comes with us!" _Except for Haruka,_ added Makoto. Rin had been helping him cover for weeks now.

The blonde wiggled his eyebrows at Makoto. "Personal time, hmmm Rin-chan? I didn't think you and Mako-chan were that close, but then again you were always grumpy when girls in his class started crushing on Mako-chan, so who can say its not true love-"

"WE ARE NOT DATING!" shouted Rin, doing an excellent interpretation of a constipated tomato. Nagisa pointed at the shoulder of Makoto's he was leaning on.

"Could have fooled me."

"UGHHH," groaned Rin, and stormed off somewhere in the direction of the bedrooms. Makoto turned to look at Nagisa, arms crossed.

"Nagisa," he warned, "that wasn't very nice." 

His younger friend stuck his tongue out.

"But Rin-chan is so fun to tease! He gets so red! Besides," he puffed up his cheeks, "you two never seem to show interest in anyone. Why aren't you guys dating yet?"

Makoto opened his mouth to explain... But... Well, technically he was dating someone. Just someone Nagisa would probably never get to meet. Or at least, Rin thought it was a bad idea for them to meet, Although Makoto had to admit Rin had a point what with Nagisa being so talkative and Rei probably catching word as well and freaking out and how scared Haru had seemed when he met his family… 

"Mako-chan?"

The brunette realized he'd been quiet for an awful long time.

"Ah... Well..." he started

"I KNEW IT!" screamed Nagisa as he nearly tackled Makoto to the ground. "I KNEW IT I KNEW IT THAT'S THE REASON WHY YOU DON'T HANG OUT AS MUCH WITH US! YOU HAVE A GIRLFRIEND!" 

Makoto wished he had been knocked over and hit his head on the coffee table after all. "N-n-no I don't!"

"AND RIN-CHAN IS COVERING FOR YOU! HAH! I FOUND YOU OUT!"

"Nagisa, no it's n-"

Rei-chan!" shouted Nagisa as the bespectacled boy reentered the room. "Makoto DOES have a girlfriend! I told you!"

Rei adjusted his glasses. "Nagisa you said Makoto-sempai and Rin-sempai were 'doing it in the side' not that he had a girlfriend."

"Same difference," said Nagisa with a wave of his hand, spinning back around to question Makoto more. Just then Rin made the mistake to return to the group, gift in hand.

"RIN-CHAN!" Nagisa bounded over the sofa to stare expectantly at the older boy. "How come you never told us Makoto was dating someone?"

Rin blinked stupidly at Nagisa, completely missing Makoto making frantic 'don't-say-anything-about-it' dance, complete with bug eyes of desperation. 

"He told you about Haruka?"

Makoto made frantic neck cutting motions, trying with all his might to send the telepathic message of _“shut the ever-loving frick up”_ with no avail.

"No," smiled Nagisa, "but you just did!"

While he hadn't seen any of the frantic waving, Rin most definitely caught the loud 'thwack' of Makoto's face palm. He winced, looking sheepishly at his best friend.

"Sorry Mako," he whimpered.

"It's-" began Makoto, but all further words were drowned out by Nagisa.

"I can't believe it Mako-chan you have a girlfriend how come you never told us so her name is Haruka-chan where did you meet her is she tall like you too does she go to our school WHY DID RIN-CHAN GET TO MEET HER FIRST?!!" 

Makoto gave Rin a cat-desperately-trying-to-survice-a-toddler-assault look as Nagisa continued to ramble off another dozen questions without breathing, but it was Rei that saved him. Throwing a hand over the blondes mouth he pointed wide-eyed at the hall.  

"Gou-san... I believe she's here"

Nagisa made a display of licking Rei's palm with all the elegance of a drunken bullfrog before shooting Makoto a frosty look.

"Don't think Gou-chan's birthday gets you off the hook Mako-chan... You're telling me later!"

The four of them hid behind the couch as the lock made a smart 'click'. Gou and Hanamura's excited banter filled the foyer. 

"I can't believe you got a discount there because you said it was your birthday! I need to try that!"

"Well, it helps I know someone who works there too, but yes! You should mention it too Hana-chan! Oh... Hi Onii-chan!! Do you have friends over?" Footsteps started making their way down the hall. 

"Dammit," swore Rin under his breath. "We forgot to hide our shoes." 

Nagisa comically slapped his forehead in mock remorse. Makoto shrugged at Rin and stepped out from behind the couch, just as Gou and her friend rounded the corner.

"Makoto-senpai!" she cried, eyes lighting up "why are you here and why are there streame-"

"SURPRISE!" shouted Nagisa, jumping out from behind the couch and tossing a handful of confetti that he magicked from thin air.  Rin and Rei stepped out too, although a bit sheepishly. Apparently Nagisa was the only one trying to salvage the surprise party. 

"Really?" smiled Gou. "Thanks guys! I was wondering if Onii-chan was going to do something for me today but it looks like all of you are!"

From here side Chigusa giggled, watching Rin and Rei both give the birthday girl hugs. Makoto was next, pulling her into a tight embrace. He chuckled uncomfortably as Gou's hands wavered on his back muscles. "Happy birthday Gou. I can't believe it's already been a year."

Gou's hands stayed where they were.

Rin cleared his throat, obviously uncomfortable, and his sister finally let go. She clapped her hands together, smiling devilishly at all of them. "Now," she said with a cocked eyebrow at her brother, "what did you all get me?" 

* * *

 20 minutes later Gou was surrounded by wrapping paper, hanging off Rei's neck with a subscription to Muscles Weekly in her tightly clenched fist. 

"Rei-kun you're amazing! Thank you so much!" She gave him a peck on the cheek, eyes still bugging out at the shiny print of her name on the paper. Carefully she laid it next to her other gifts; a sundress from Chigusa, a stack of manga featuring extremely buff men from Nagisa, and a small fish charm bracelet from Makoto. 

She fiddled with the weathered watch face on the silver chain around her neck, Rin's gift. He and Makoto had spent a Sunday together at the jeweler’s fixing and resetting their late father’s watch for here. “You guys,” she choked, “thank you… I can’t think of anything better for my birthday…”

“Wait until you see the cake!” piped Nagisa, narrowly avoiding spilling chips over the entire party as he leapt out of his seat and ran out of the room, Rei trailing at his heels. Rin rolled his eyes at the pair.

“How the hell is he even more hyper than when he was 10?” he asked as he bit into an apple slice.

“Hey now,” reprimanded Gou, “don’t you remember how excitable you were when you were back in elementary?” Her brother wrinkled his nose and all Makoto could do was laugh, leaving the two girls smiling fondly at the older boys.

“Makoto-senpai, it’s been a while since you just… hung out with everyone.” Gou folded her skirt against her knees. “It’s nice to see you again.”

Makoto’s throat suddenly felt dry. He _had_ been neglecting his friends. He was usually so good about that too, making sure to spare time for everyone, from the swim club to the twins, even meeting with Kisumi every few months to catch up. But then Haruka had happened, and everything after that had been scrambled up between fixing things and schoolwork that he’d hardly been able to meet with the rest of the Iwatobi crew outside of school. He’d let everything fall out of balance. 

From somewhere down the hall came the unmistakable sound of Rei squawking. Everyone turned to look, Rin cursing under his breath.

“I swear to god if they messed up and got taro…” 

Makoto turned back to Gou with a smile pasted on his face. “I… I guess it has been a while, hasn’t it?”

She chortled. “You could stand to walk to the train a little more with us.”

“Or treat everyone to ice cream!” piped in Chigusa.

“Yeah,” he sighed, Rin giving him an understanding look. “I guess I’ve just lost track of everything lately. I’ll try and do better. I’ve just been, er… well… distracted.”

“Distracted?” Gou and Chigusa leaned forward. “Distracted how?”

“Uhm, well…” Makoto sputtered, “I’ve got something that takes up a lot of time…”

“Makoto-senpai,” glared Gou, rising up to tower him with her 5’3” frame in a way only she could make intimidating, “What exactly is that _something?”_

“ _Well…”_ He shrank back against the couch, desperately wishing for a miracle to get him out of this.

Instead he got Nagisa.

The blonde stuck his head through the doorframe, grinning ear to ear in impish glee. “Mako-chan has a girlfriend! And he only introduced Rin-chan to him, even though we’re all Mako-chan’s friends too!”

Gou’s jaw dropped and Chigusa proceeded to spit soda over the –what used to be spotless – coffee table. “ _WHAT?”_ they both screeched.

“No way! I haven’t seen you talking to any girl at school!”

“And I never see you texting anyone at lunch or after practice!”

“And Ami-chan and Yuka-chan said you’d only been seen hanging out with Rin-kun when they were follo- _MMPH!_ “ Gou clapped a hand over Chigusa’s face before she could expose any more of the questionably moral activities of the Makoto-senpai fanclub, some of which may or may not involve texting the fanbase sightings of the handsome brunette. The other girl seemed to get the message.

“Nagisa!” Gou whirled around, ponytail swinging wildly, “how did you find out about this? Did he tell you?”

 _What happened to getting the cake? What happened to today being all about Gou?_ Bemoaned Makoto, sinking even deeper into the couch

“Nope,” quipped Nagisa, “Rin-chan gave it away! Apparently _he_ gets to meet Haruka-chan and we don’t.” He gave Makoto a grossly overdramatic pout. “It’s like he doesn’t want us to know about her.”

 _“What?”_ blurted Makoto, but Gou had already turned her sights on her brother.

“Onii-chan! How could you keep this from me? Or the rest of us?”

“ _Uhmmmm_ , because I respect Makoto’s privacy?”

“But Makoto senpai getting a girlfriend is a huge deal! Everyone at school has been wondering for _ages_ when it’s going to happen and you just _hide it?_ Even from your own sister? _”_

Rin’s eyebrow twitched. “Did you ever think maybe he _doesn’t_ want people to know about Haruka? Or that I wouldn’t just go and spill my friend’s secrets?”

“But I’m your sister! News like this is important! You tell me these things!”

“Look Gou,” growled Rin, “if I was dating a guy it would be my business and my business alone to tell other people, I’m not just about to go out and blurt that to any…” his eyes widened, realizing what he’d just said.

“…one.”

The room fell deathly quiet as four pairs of eyes turned on Makoto. The exact type of uncomfortable silence that fills a room after a pet owner asks their obviously-guilty dog if they got into the trash.

Makoto was seriously starting to sympathize with those dogs. 

“You’re dating a guy?”

Makoto covered his face with his hands. He didn’t know what to say. Yes Haru was a guy, but he wasn’t a guy so to speak in the… well the conventional sense. His head gave a shaky bob.

A murmuring of “Makoto…” and “Mako-chan” filled the air, most definitely even worse than the silence before. Makoto didn’t dare look out from between his fingers. Dating a guy was… okay it wasn’t as taboo as it was 20 years ago, but _still._ There were so many people out there that thought that type of thing was disgusting. Nagisa… he was pretty sure Nagisa wouldn’t hate him for it, and Rei… Rei might as well. But Gou? Chigusa? Others at school? Dark images swirled through his head, shadowy faces of disgust, hissed slurs, cruel notes shoved in lockers… 

Something gripped his shoulder. Makoto jolted upright in fright.

“Mako-chan…”

It was only Nagisa.

“Mako-chan,” he repeated, probing gently. “Is that why you didn’t want to tell the rest of us?” Heat radiated through his palm and into Makoto. His grip was neither tight nor lose, knit somewhere in the middle at steady warmth. Reassurance.

Makoto bit his lip.

“That was… it was definitely a part of it.”

The first years glanced at each other, the unasked question of “what else” filling the living room. Rin caught Makoto’s eye, cocking one eyebrow for permission before clearing his throat. 

“Haru’s… let’s just say he’s not great with crowds. And fairly shy.”

“Oh…” Chigusa mumbleds. “That’s fair.”

“Makoto-senpai…” Gou stepped closer, kneeling closer and taking his hand. “We won’t tell anyone about him if you don’t want us to.” Her fingers folded over his, wrapping them in a short squeeze that loosened the tension wired through him. Behind her Nagisa and Chigusa nodded. 

“Not a word.”

“It doesn’t leave this house.” 

It was like a weight he’d barely known existed disappeared. He didn’t have to hide from them anymore. Haru’s name was all they needed to know, their relationship summed up simply, without complications of the more… aquatic kind left in. The corners of his mouth twitched skywards.

“Thanks everyone…”

“ _It’s finally ready!_ Nagisa-kun could you get the… what happened in here?”

Rei stood in the doorway, cake in hand.

Or at least, given the occasion, candles, and conversation before Makoto was fairly certain that it was supposed to be the cake.

Rin shot out of his seat like a startled cat, hair practically bristling. “ _WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?”_ Nagisa was trying in vain to stifle his laugher as Rin began to turn purple, the girls seemed to be in an entirely different universe, eyes glazed over in amazement at the sight before them. Carefully, with the girls between him as a buffer, Makoto leaned forward for a closer look.

What was most certainly not taro-flavoured but also most certainly not cake-shaped sat on the tray in Rei’s hands. It was unmistakably – and an eerily familiar – man’s torso. The caramel marzipan wrapping it pronounced every curve and valley, biceps and triceps and deltoids and meltoids all rendered perfectly in layers of sponge and icing. A messy cascade of whipping cream and strawberries covered the groin, and to top it all off someone – probably Nagisa – had stuck two sparklers into the cherry covered nipples.

“Is… Is that…”

“ _OH MY GOD IT’S PERFECT!”_ Gou practically squealed into the supersonic range, bouncing up and down as Nagisa whipped out a stack of plates and a knife. “ _It looks just like Onii-chan’s!_ ”

“I emailed them a picture of him just for you!” Nagisa’s smile was approaching ear-to-ear level happiness. Rin on the other hand, seemed to have broken in disbelief. “Do you want a nipple or some abs?”

Makoto gently led Rin back to the sofa, a husk of a body with his spirit no doubt floating around the room in shock. Rei wandered over, least recognizable section of the cake in hand.

“Would you two… um… it’s vanilla cake.” He offered the berry covered groin piece, Rin taking it from his hands, a lifeless robot as he raised a bite to his mouth.

“It actually tastes pretty good,” came his almost silent reply.

The younger boy pushed his fingers up “Nagisa found an…adult bakery with excellent reviews, and what with them being the best in three prefectures at making muscles out of cake… we ordered it despite the, uhm… unexpected addition.”

Makoto wrinkled his nose. “Addition?”

A fork pointed at Rin’s slice. 

“I fixed it, but essentially, they take pride in physiological accuracy. _With everything_.”

Rin’s fork clattered onto his plate, eyes staring incredulously at the mound of fruit and whipping cream on the confectionary crotch.

“They _didn’t…_ ”

“They did. That's what took me so long in the kitchen. I had to remove it and use some of your produce to make that modesty cover.”

Makoto was fairly certain Rin fainted on the spot.

Not one to neglect food, it took Nagisa all of 3 seconds to confiscate Rin’s slice. “We still have his banana dingle in the kitchen. They even drizzled it in chocolate!”

“Nagisa…” Makoto moaned, “can you stop before destroy Rin and my favourite food for good?”

"Fine Mako-channn." He pouted. "You're no fun sometimes."

 Rei settled down on the floor before them, his own slice of cake in hand. “So what was everyone talking about earlier?”

“Mmph-koto… hash… a bofffend,” Nagisa said between mouthfuls of strawberry-covered groin.

“A what?”

Nagisa made a gargantuan swallow. “A boyfriend! Haru-chan is a boy!” 

“Oh.” Rei smiled at Makoto, one of his gentle, glasses-slipping-ever-so-slightly-down-his-nose smiles. “Is that so?”

* * *

It was hours later he finally made it to the beach. He’d promised Haru he’d drop by sometime – it was the weekend after all – even if that did leave him with the guilty feeling of causing Haru to wait around in the harbor all day. The sun was setting over the harbor as he tumbled down the hillside to their secret meeting place, dying sunrays shimmering off Haruka’s tail.

At the sight of him Haru perked up, scooting across the rock like a floundering seal until a laughing Makoto bent down into his outstretched arms.

“I’m here,” he said with a peck on Haru’s lips.

“Welcome back,” Haruka replied happily, warm words brushing against Makoto’s chin. He pulled Makoto into his lap – surprisingly dry – and cuddled against the boy’s arm. “How was that thing you had to do with Rin?”

“Oh! His sister’s birthday! It went pretty well, I mean, Rin nearly passed out when he saw the cake our friends got for her, but seeing how much she loves muscles it was perfect for her. Speaking of which… I brought you a piece.” Makoto rustled through his bag and pulled out a tupperware container with the spare slice of cake. The merman stared at it.

“That’s a nipple.”

“Uh yeah… Nagisa insisted on me giving it to you…” _and the banana penis_ … which was currently thoroughly chopped up and tossed in the compost at home despite Ren and Ran’s begging. Neither Haru or his little siblings were getting a phallic cake decoration. 

Haruka sniffed the cake, small nose wrinkled in suspicion.

“It doesn’t have actual nipples in it?”

Makoto smiled and pulled a piece off. “Nah, my friends aren’t quite that weird.” He popped it in his mouth, letting Haruka stare at him as he chewed and swallowed. “See?” he said opening his mouth, “all fine!”

Haruka took a small chunk of his own and nibbled the corner. His expression changed instantly, and before Makoto could blink the piece had disappeared between the merman’s lips.

“Ifsh gud!” Haruka’s fingers dove back into the box for more. The merman continued to shove cake into his mouth, barely stopping to breathe as Makoto looked on in mute surprise. It was only when he reached the last few crumbs and began sucking fondant and whipping cream off his fingers did Haruka speak again.

"What are your friends like?"

Makoto chewed a piece of cherry thoughtfully. "They're bright… and cheerful. Funny… even when they're not always trying. They always try their best, and when they commit to something they stick with it." He smiled, remembering today. "Sometimes they can be a bit overbearing or enthusiastic, but that's because they genuinely care. Kind of like family."

Haru blinked, blue eyes softening. "They sound nice."

"Yeah…" the two of them settled into peaceful silence, Makoto resting his head gently on Haru's as they watched the last few ships make their way back into the harbour. The merman sidled up closer, cool hands worming their way into the warmth of Makoto's jacket (followed by the rest of his body in a not-so-subtle motion. In the end Makoto ended up with Haru nestled between his legs, the smaller framed boy tugging the edges of Makoto's stuffed-to-the-brim jacket. 

"Speaking of my friends," Makoto spoke for the first time in minutes, "They found out I'm seeing someone and they kinda… well they really want to meet you. The think you're just a regular human though." His stomach flipped in anxiety as Haru stiffened against his chest. "Ri-rin and I told them you weren't really comfortable around strangers, and that you don't like crowds… so if you don't want to they'll stop asking eventually…"

He watched, every hair on his body bristling as Haru's fists balled tighter into his jacket. This was a bad idea, this was pushing Haru too far… There was a reason mermaids and humans didn't intermix. Every time someone new saw Haru, the risk of him being found out or captured increased. How did he know that everyone could carry this secret to their graves? How did he know that that it wouldn't scare Haruka off? Continuously exposing him to the human world… it was selfish of him.

Two long fingers clamped Makoto's nostrils shut.

"Hey." Haruka's head was craned back, staring at Makoto with a mix of annoyance and… _laughter?_

"You're over thinking things right now, aren't you?"

Makoto nodded slowly, dumbstruck. "Y-yeah… but how did you…"

"You make this weird face. Like you're trying to look normal while something's chewing on your arm." Haruka wriggled deeper into Makoto's arms. "So they want to meet me, huh? I guess… if Rin helps with a disguise… it wouldn't be unpleasant."

The merman was practically crushed in the hug that followed.

" _REALLY HARU??  THANK YOU!_ I promise we'll figure something out that makes it comfortable for you!" Makoto rubbed his face on Haru's cheeks smooching together as he continued to gush. "You're the best!"

"Yeah… yeah…" Haru mumbled shyly, hiding his face into Makoto's chest once again. "You too."


	17. Chapter 17

“No no no no _no!_ This is not going to happen at this rate!”

Haruka peered out of the sleeve of a puffy brown vest at the very irate Rin, an innocent look plastered on his face. “Why not?”

“You refuse to wear anything that Makoto doesn’t wear 5 times a week. You think Nagisa and Rei and Gou aren’t going to notice that? That they’re not going to find that suspicious at all? You can’t keep picking only his favourite clothing!”

“Rin… calm down,” soothed Makoto. “We can figure this out…”

“But they smell the most like Makoto, “ pouted Haru.

“Stillllll~ they’re going to be hyper-sensitive to everythingg“ whined Rin as Haru stuck his face into a pair of Makoto’s cargo shorts and sniffed. “Can you not do that?”

“No. Makoto smells good.” And with that Haruka dumped the rest of Makoto’s dufflebag of clothes over his head.

“We’ll… we’ll keep working on it,” said Makoto with a sigh.

* * *

Three days later Rin still continued to over think things and cast more doubts.

“Have you smelled him lately?” he asked over the phone. “Like… actually smelled him and didn’t assume it’s just the smell of the ocean? He stinks like brine… like if you mixed pickles and kelp and let it sit out for a week! How the fuck did we get so used to it Rei and Nagisa are going to pick up on it in an instant even if we do manage to dress him up in normal enough clothes!”

Makoto was starting to get a building headache. He leaned against the wall, watching as Ren and Ran ran past him giggling. “So we give him a quick bath before he meets them, wouldn’t that work?”

“Then we have to deal with carting him to and from your house to wherever we’re going. Makoto, this seriously isn’t a good idea can’t you just lie and say something like he’s living in Tokyo or is some 50 year old sugar daddy or no wait scratch the sugar daddy that’s creepy as fuck-" 

“We’ll just… I guess we’ll just put it off for longer until we can figure this all out.” Makoto sighed. “Can’t we just… tell the truth?”

He could literally hear the pain in Rin’s voice.

“Makoto… what if they react the same way your parents did? What is they want to report him to the authorities?”

“I… but…” stammered Makoto, “they’re… Nagisa and Rei and Gou… they’d accept him for who he is… they wouldn’t think he’s dangerous…”

“Makoto.” Repeated Rin. “Do you really want to risk losing him?”

Makoto squeezed his phone tighter. The memory of Haru lying lifelessly still in his arms was still painfully clear. There were nights he’d wake up in cold sweats, trembling from tip to tail with the after image of the merman’s limp form, icy cold and without pulse, unable to sleep until morning when he could rush to the water’s edge in the waking light and see his Haruka alive.

“No…” he whispered. “I’ll tell Nagisa that Haru can’t make it this week either.”

* * *

“That’s no  _fairrrrr~!”_ Nagisa ground his head into Makoto’s back for what felt like the 6 th time this month. “Why can’t we meet Haru-chan yet? We promised we’ll keep him secret and even if he is three foot two with purple hair we won’t say anything about it!”

“It’s…it’s complicated,” mumbled Makoto. He was losing the will to try and make up excuses. This was the third time they’d cancelled on the others, and even if he was protecting Haru he was hurting them. Nagisa and Rei and Gou all meant the best, he seriously doubted they’d ever want anything to happen to Haru. “We’re still trying to figure out where’s a good place for all of us to meet up.”

“But we still haven’t seen one hair on Haru-chan’s head yet!” whined Nagisa, throwing on the puppy-dog eyes and trembling lip he knew all to well Makoto would fall for.

“I-I know that!” he stammered. “I want you guys to meet him, but getting him out and about it harder than we thought." 

Nagisa seemed to process this for a second.

“A picture,” he said at last. “I wanna see a picture of Haru-chan. You’re still getting him to meet us, but we’ll stop pressuring you if you just show us his face. You’ve got to have one on your phone, right? Is he your background?”

“Uhmmm…” Makoto stared at his phone. The kitten wallpaper was certainly not Haru. “Not exactly.”

“Well do you have one?”

“Not… really…”

“OHHHHH MAKO-CHAN ARE THEY ALL DIRTY ONES?”

“ _NO! DEFINITELY NOT!”_ he shrieked loud enough for classroom 3-F to hear him.

“If you say so Mako-chan! But seriously, no pictures? None?” The blonde cocked his head in question. “I always thought couples take lots of photos of each other." 

“We… we never…” Makoto’s face was turning red. _Why had he never asked Haru to take a picture with him?_ Well the first part was obvious, that he wouldn’t want to do anything that could risk Haru’s capture. The second part was that he’d probably need to do a night’s worth of reading to learn how a camera works to explain it to Haru, then another 40 minutes asking the twins how they’d explain it for the time when the actual scientific explanation was too perplexing for Haru and the “it goes ding and makes stuff” version was what he needed to end the conversation.

But most of all, when he was with Haru he didn’t think about photos. He didn’t think about facebook statuses or scrapbooks for later. Haruka was something that was best in the present, in the here and now, in the swish of his hair, the soft timbre of his voice, in how the corners of his lips would twitch upwards ever so slightly when Makoto said something funny. When he was with Haru he didn’t care about other things. It was easy, it felt easy, it felt _right_ when they were together, just the two of them leaning against each other as they watched the sunset against the horizon.

He must have been making some sort of strange face because Nagisa was string at him with some mix of confusion and awe.

“You lose track of things when you’re with him, that’s what it is.”

“Yeah,” sighed Makoto, the memories of warm feelings washing over him anew. “I don’t want to miss a minute I’m with him.”

“You must really love him, don’t you Mako-chan?”

Makoto blushed. “Yeah, I guess I do.”

His friend chucked and hopped to his feet. “Well, I should get back to class now, but you’ll remember that picture the next time you see him, _right?"_  

He smiled, the previous feeling of guilt all but gone. “Of course.” 

Nagisa waved and dashed out of the classroom, his golden locks bobbing in that special Nagisa-type-way. 

_A picture. That seemed simple enough. How could they possibly mess that up?_

* * *

“Well back in 1861… or 1816… there was this guy… Nicephone Nicepiece or something and he used this box thing with a hole and a metal plate covered in chemicals and managed to take the first real picture, but it wasn’t that great like it couldn’t stay permanent… So people kept experimenting and started to use mercury to make it stick, and then later people used Jello to make it easier- oh right you don’t know what Jello is it’s this wiggly stuff that you can eat. Anyway then they used plastic film instead for a bunch of years until they found out how to make a technology that could sense different types of light you see through the lens and turn it into digital information and long story short that’s what the little circle shape on my phone is.”

The pregnant silence between him and the merman must have registered as at least a fourth trimester. Haruka was staring at him like he’d lost his mind.

 Makoto sighed.

 “Basically I press this button and then we get a still reflection of whatever we point this at.”

 “Oh,” brightened Haru, “that makes sense.”

Makoto made a mental note to buy Ren a cupcake on the way home. And another for Ran too, she had helped after all.

“The reason why I’m bringing this up is, well,” he scratched his head awkwardly, “since we’re still working out the kinks to the whole meeting thing one of my friends really wants to see what you look like. He made me promise to get a picture next time I saw you.”

Haru poked the duffle beside Makoto. “That’s why you brought this, right? Because Gou asked you for a _still-reflection.”_  

“A-actually it was Nagisa, but yeah!” he chuckled, unzipping the bag, “you got it!” The merman shuffled closer to him, resting his chin on Makoto’s hip as the boy continued to root through the mass of clothes. “I know you’re not a fan of all of Rin’s clothing, but I think he might be right that you can’t just wear all my stuff without them picking up on it.”

Haru wrinkled his nose again. “But he smells different. I don’t know of what, but it’s not ocean and it’s not you. I don’t like it.”

Makoto pulled out a hat and a blue sweater he’d outgrown, a miniature eruption of fabric flopping free of the opening. “Maybe I could wear whatever it is we mix in before? Or just keep it in my room for a bit to make it smell different.” He paused. “What do I smell like?”

The merman looked up at him from his lap. “Makoto.”

“Yeah?”

“You smell like Makoto. It’s Makoto smell.”

The brunette opened and closed his mouth, trying to find some way to tell Haruka that wasn’t exactly what he’d meant yet hold back from hugging him for being so straightforwardly cute. Haruka reached for the bag and pulled it into Makoto’s lap. He then proceeded to shove his face in it.

“Ha-Haru!” Makoto cried, flabbergasted as Haruka’s tail seemed to wag in happiness as the black haired lump that was his head continued to explore the bag’s insides. 

Haruka surfaced, yellow and orange shirt in tow between his teeth. 

“I like this one. It smells the most like calm you.”

It was hard to disagree with a merman when they were being this cute. All Makoto could do was smile and let out a laugh as he took the shirt from Haru’s mouth and unfolded it. 

“It’s the shirt I sleep in most of the time, so I don’t wash it the same amount as my other clothes. I don’t wear it out either so the others haven’t seen it.”

Haruka nodded in understanding before pulling the entire thing out of Makoto’s arms and shoving it on his head. The fabric pooled around his shoulders as he sat there, tail fidgeting like some colorful dolphin sheet-ghost costume.

“Makoto I think it’s broken.”

The boy laughed and pulled Haruka into his lap, wrestling the merman’s wriggling limbs into the sleeves and giving the collar a sharp tug to free his head. 

Haruka blinked up at him and Makoto’s heart jerked to a stop.

His dark hair was mussed up from its time confined in the fabric, giving Haru the closest thing to bedhead Makoto had ever seen him with. His cheeks were tinted pink, out of frustration or embarrassment or both, but Makoto’s couldn’t find the strength in him to care. The neckline of the shirt, a yellow hem against the sharp orange of the upper half, was far to large on Haru. Instead of a loose scoopneck, it slid down Haru’s lithe shoulders, showing an enticing amount of collarbone that Makoto found himself needing to hold himself back from jumping such cuteness.

“That… uh… looks really good on you,” he managed.

Haruka shrugged, only managing to make his shirt fall even further down his shoulder and Makoto could feel his cheeks flushing beet red as he slid it back up.

“S-s-so about taking pictures…” he mumbled.

As it turned out, it was surprisingly easy for Haru to get used to the phone camera, once Makoto turned off the flash. Despite being extremely cautious at first, hiding his face behind Makoto’s shoulder or side-eying the device with question, he was starting to warm up to it, his eyes glistening with every trace of a smile even if his lips didn’t follow too.

They took at least a dozen photos of Haru just in Makoto’s shirt, followed by several more of him in the hoodie and – at Haruka’s request, a few with Makoto wearing the cream colored toque he’d brought. Makoto was fairly certain he’d have a good photo somewhere in there to show Nagisa (and maybe even something cute for his phone background as well). He was about ready to put the phone down and just spend some quiet time with Haru before heading back when Haru stripped off all his clothes.

Haru was definitely faster taking clothes off than putting them on.

The merman reached up and pressed Makoto’s thumb against the shutter button, the resulting image of Makoto and his – now apparently and actually naked – boyfriend captured for all to see.

“ _HARU!”_ he sputtered, desperately trying to cover the other man’s nipples as he took another picture.

“What. It’s how we normally look together?” The resultant pout on his face nearly eclipsed the amount of cute he’d been in Makoto’s shirt.

Makoto sighed. “Yeah, you’re right. It just might look weird to someone if they found a picture where only you’re topless.”

The comment resulted in Haru fumbling with Makoto’s shirt buttons, making surprising headway for someone who only 15 minutes ago hadn’t even known which hole was the head hole in a shirt. 

“Then it won’t matter if neither of us have shirts on, will it?” 

Makoto was about to argue until Haru pulled his arms free and leaned closer, nuzzling Makoto as he side eyed the camera in such a way Makoto could feel heat rising in his chest. Quickly he snapped another photo and Haruka readjusted, his fingers skirting around Makoto’s waist before settling for a lose hug. The heat was quickly spreading to other places now, and if Makoto wasn’t careful Haru’s hands moving with every shutter sound would find out about it pretty soon.

“H-hey why don’t you try taking some yourself…” Makoto stammered, passing the phone off to the merman to hopefully keep those roaming hands from going to far south. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to get relief from Haru, it was more just that he’d probably be showing signs of too much of a good time tomorrow and the school fitness test was probably not the best day to go in with ridden out hips.

Fortunately Haru took the phone without comment, taking a few mis-aimed photos before finding the ideal angle for the two of them. He began firing away rapidly, shot after shot as Makoto was left to try and position himself with Haru. He tried a few with his hand resting on Haruka’s shoulder, then a couple with his hand wound in Haru’s as they leaned their heads against each other. The barest traces of a smile dusted Haru’s face as Makoto snuggled closer, the offshore breeze sending a little shiver up his spine.

He looped his arms around Haru’s waist like the merman had done him earlier, hoping the proximity to Haru would help make up for his sudden lack of a top. One of his pinkies grazed the smooth flesh of Haru’s waist.

And then he felt his hand trace against something else that wasn’t exactly waist.

Definitely more slippery.

Also definitely not the same type of skin as the thicker, more rubbery skin that covered Haru’s tail. Makoto let out a little sigh of relief and tweaked the appendage.

The result in Haru was instantaneous. The merman squeaked, almost dropping the phone as Makoto rolled his finger against the budding head of Haruka’s erection, the brunette unable to hold back his laugher.

“I guess you got a little too excited…” he smiled, looking down at the now familiar prehensile cock. _Looks like I wasn’t the only one,_ he thought. Haruka attempted to glare at him only to break out into a fresh round of blushing.

“It’s cause you were getting excited too,” he mumbled, “and your shirt also smells like you in heat.”

Makoto traced his mind back to what the heck could actually count for a human boy in heat when he remembered three nights ago. Nagisa had jokingly sent all of them a tentacle hentai doujin, and while Makoto had stopped before reaching any of the actual porn in it, it had reminded him of how Haru’s felt and he spent the last minutes of his waking evening scissoring his ass and remembering how it felt to have Haru drive inside of him. He must have forgotten to wash it after.

“I-if you say so,” he stammered, continuing to play with Haru. The merman gave him and annoyed glare and made a move towards Makoto’s belt.

“Can we finish being excited together then?”

Makoto felt a fresh surge of blood rush to his desperately under stimulated cock, but swallowed down the heady desire bubbling up inside of him. He wasn’t entirely sure if he wanted a repeat of his and Rin’s subway conversation, but with Nagisa 5 times and loud and in a place with 25 times as many people that knew him.

“I’m actually okay,” he lied. “But I can help you out.” Haruka gave him a confused look.

“But it needs to go in a hole…” he said, pure picture of seriousness on his face. Somewhere along the line Haruka had managed to have some of the most naïve sex-ed lessons; yes there was definitely a hole when you had sex but he seemed to not know anything else… not sticking your dick in a hole related… When Makoto played with Haru’s in his hands the merman seemed to act like it was singularly the strangest and most amazing thing in the world.

And that was just his hands.

Makoto had a thought. He most definitely had a thought, but just how exactly was this going to play out. It wasn’t like he’d ever done this before. Jacking someone else off was one thing, because – come on – pretty much every male with the seeming exception of Haruka had probably yanked their wiener at least once in their life and knew what felt good. But that… he definitely had ideas about that… wet dreams about how it might feel, but doing it was totally different…

He licked his lips.

“There’s… another hole we could try.”

Haruka gave him a look of confusion, but his protesting erection and flushed cheeks seemed to win out on whatever internal debate he was having and nodded in consent. Makoto swallowed, then bent down.

Haruka’s cock quivered as Makoto’s breath ghosted over his tip. He’d never really seen it up close before. To say it had a head like his own would be a mistake, instead it was more of a graceful narrowing, the last inch tapering into a thumb sized end that was furiously leaking a translucent liquid. He pursed his lips, then moved forward,

Haru’s entire body went rigid as Makoto’s lips took him in, a little gasp coming from above him as he took the top of it in. It certainly was large, too large for him to ever be able to hold fully in here, but that wasn’t the focus here. No, he was going to blow Haruka away.

His tongue laved against the bottom of Haru’s cock, tracing the faint line along it and slowly working around it. A moan rang out as he pulled back and re-sheathed it yet again, taking extra care to suck and nibble the tip at every chance he got. His hands wandered lower, attending to the thicker regions of Haru’s member, drumming fingers up the side and giving lazy pumps to a now shuddering Haru. The merman almost seemed to melt, relaxing into Makoto’s mouth as he continued his adventures in giving head. The brunette hummed, sending fresh sensations up and down the cock and long fingers knotting themselves in his hair

And then Haru began to move.

It was slow at first, tentative twitches, then braver and braver, tracing the roof of Makoto’s mouth and the backs of his teeth before returning to center for full attention from his tongue. Despite his digressions, it wasn’t unpleasant. Actually, it was quite similar to french kissing (except in this case the other tongue was a heck of a lot larger and not exactly attached to another pair of lips). He was starting to get lost in the heat of it, heat clogging his mind as he acted on instinct. Tugging and pulling there, tracing out every curve and edge there, tongue and cock dancing together until he could hardly tell what was Haru’s and what was his.

The more attention he paid it the hotter it grew, all the while leaking more and more of Haru’s precum. It was different than his own – not that he’d ever tasted his. It seemed to coat his mouth more, leaving everything it touched in a thin layer of what tasted like lightly salted olive oil. He found himself paying more and more attention to the tip, rubbing and stimulating it into rapture as it continued to twist and meet with his every move.

Haruka was a moaning puddle now, splayed out on the ground, hips arching up to meet Makoto. His hands roamed everywhere over the pair of them, indecisively, hung up between pulling the boy closer for more or pushing him away for relief. One anchored itself on Makoto’s leg, gripping on for dear life as the brunette hollowed his cheeks and resumed his humming of the national anthem (apparently _extremely_ well received when delivered this way). He barely noticed Haru’s other roaming hand until he felt cold air waft against his hips.

“Huh-Huhluu?” he asked around the length. The merman gave him no reply, other than a sharp tug of his boxers. The fabric slid down his thighs, Haruka barely paying it any heed, gently pushing Makoto’s head down as he tried to see what was going on. “Ah-ru?” he asked again, a little squeak spilling out of him as Haruka gripped his hips and tugged them sharply to the left…

Right over Haru’s waiting mouth.

Without wasting a motion Makoto’s hips were jerked down, his sorely neglected member colliding with Haru’s eager tongue. Within seconds it was all Makoto could do not to writhe and moan around Haruka’s cock as his lover managed to prove once again just how fast a learner he was. Haruka’s tongue was deliberate in its motions, fast laps against Makoto’s slit traded with teasing figure eights around his head. Those silky, salted lips whispered up and down his length, little kisses intermingling with short strokes of the tongue that had him keening even closer to Haruka’s face, into the warm, wet walls of Haru’s cheeks and a whole new level of feeling

Makoto squeezed his eyes shut, trying to clear enough fog from his mind to regain control of his jaw muscles. He could feel Haruka moving his way along his cock, trailing circles around it as more and more disappeared between his lips. _That was good… beyond good… amazing even._ Function returned to his tongue and Makoto began to mimic Haru, sucking more and more of the dolphin’s cock into his mouth and giving it the lick down of the century. From the groan behind him it was well received.

It soon became a game, a task of returning the pleasure they gave and then some until it took everything the pair had not to come then and there before the other. Makoto was engrossed in attempting to deep throat Haru when he felt the merman’s ministrations wander south. Fingers meandered against the soft skin of his perineum, rubbing circles on the inner most reaches of his cheeks. He keened against their touch, silently willing Haru to touch further, explore deeper in his ever-growing want of release. Thumbs circled the heated ring of his entrance, the orifice contracting and flexing in sheer want as Makoto choked back pleas of desperation around the swollen cock in his lips.

A moist touch brushed against the puckered hole, tracing every minute dent and ridge of his asshole; a taunting touch that had his eyes watering and mind screaming in sheer need. Haru’s tongue pressed harder, breaking through the outermost seal of his hole and Makoto choked, Haruka’s cock stabbing against the back of his throat as he withdrew, coughing and panting. He could feel Haru’s nose between his crack, feel Haru’s cheeks press into his ass as the tongue entered further, fluttering erratically against his soft walls, breaking down every last barrier within Makoto.

His body was lost to sensation, desperately pressing back, attempting to fuck itself on Haru’s tongue when what it truly craved was locked between Makoto’s jaws. His mouth worked furiously, Haruka growing more excited and restless inside him at both ends as Makoto fought to keep control of his limbs. They were close, both so close, desperately working to lock themselves together in completion, one wriggling micron by micron closer as the other tensed and sucked as hard as his body could manage.

It was at first brush of his prostrate that Makoto came. Haru’s face buried in his rear, tongue extended maximally as his body caved and hot released spurted over Haruka’s pale chest. Makoto’s orgasm washed over him, nonsense babbling over his tongue and against Haru’s last fibers of control and soon a bloom of semen was spouting between his lips, spilling from the corners and icing his face. His body collapsed onto Haru’s, the two of them gasping from their releases, all energy gone from their limbs. Makoto watched as Haru’s member curled sleepily on its owner’s stomach before retreating into its home, sated.

At long last Makoto found enough strength to wriggle around atop Haru, pants catching on his dorsal fin as he came face to face with his lover. Haruka was still flushed from their activities but a coy smile was spread across his face.

“That hole… is a pretty good one.” And with that he began licking the remnants of cum from Makoto’s burning cheeks.

* * *

“ _WAAAH~!_ Haru-chan is so cute!”

Nagisa poured over the picture of Haruka. Rei and Gou were hopelessly squishing next to him in attempts to get a glimpse as well but the blonde was making it a real challenge.

“Is he wearing your sweater in this one Mako-chan? Did you lend him it? _Did he start wearing it to remind him of you??”_

Gou elbowed Nagisa in the stomach and managed to swipe the phone.

“Wow Makoto-sempai! You both look so cute together!” Makoto could swear he could see sparkles appearing around her as she started to gush “Look at his face, and those eyes! _Ahhh_ and the lines of his collar!! I bet he has lovely muscles just like you it’s destined!” She and Rei began swiping through the rest, every so often letting out a sound of approval. All of a sudden Rei gawked.

“M-Makoto-sempai… is there a reason why there’s some photos here of you two shirtless, and… oh, there seems to be a video…”

Nagisa’s eyes lit up at the comment, trying to commandeer the phone and making Makoto fling himself across the desk in terror.

“Ah… well… Haru wanted to go for a swim when we met up so we took a few like that before heading out…”

Nagisa cocked his head like an innocent pet, but Makoto knew there was likely something not innocent going on behind those sunshine yellow bangs. “Then what’s the video? It’s 12 minutes long, did you guys accidentally leave it running as you went swimming?”

“Y-yeah…” he stuttered, crossing every possible finger and toe of his body the questions would stop here. “That must be it! I didn’t check my phone until now so I didn’t realize it before.”

“Oh,” smiled Nagisa, apparently satisfied with his explanation. “That makes sense!”

Apparently some larger being of the universe decided to take pity on Makoto in that moment and the school bell chimed. The three first years waved their goodbyes and Makoto let out a sigh of relief.

It wasn’t until he got home he that he watched the movie. By the third minute of clouds and the chorus of Haruka’s moans his face was already into it’s fourth shade of red. He let out a silent prayer of thanks no one else had set eyes on this and, with a twinge of guilt in his stomach, slid his fingers down the back of his pants.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear I totally didn't forget everything I learned for my presentation on the invention of the camera for gr.11 french everything here is 100% true…
> 
> -ish…


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally managed to flesh out the next few chapters, so the next few updates should come much much MUCH faster than I've been for the last few -//-;

It was early. Not that he wasn’t usually awake at this hour, which he usually was, or that he’d slept horribly last night, which he hadn't, or at least, to whatever degree you can say you did when only half your brain is sleeping at a time. He hadn't been awake too late either, nodding off before even some of the calves had calmed down from the evening feed. Maybe it was the fact he was already swimming alone, the sun barely peeping over the horizon as he whistled a groggy farewell to the rest of the pod, and now headed out towards the coast. 

All in all Haruka was low energy, and nervous to boot. If he had a choice he avoided the inlet at this time. There were far to many fishermen preparing their boats and heading out to sea and one lone dolphin fluke nearby would be cause for attention. So he hugged the shoreline, bobbing up and down for air like a timid seal. He felt stupid. This whole process of not being seen was stupid.

Haru stopped at a breakwater, eyes scanning for any ships beginning to leave. He didn't have to do this. He could swim back to the pod and explain his absence to Makoto later. Makoto would understand… Makoto could make his friends understand why he wasn't there. Haru stilled his tail and hugged the cool granite. His heart was hammering in his chest, fight or flight instinct going crazy. There was just so much that could go wrong today. So many places where he could be found out...

_"Okay, so this is how it's going to work tomorrow. Makoto will pick you up at daybreak in the wheelchair and help you get dressed. Then you guys meet me at the train station, and Haru no looking around like you've never seen anything before because I know you're going to stare at the turnstiles if I don't say anything. Nagisa and Rei and Gou will meet us there and then we'll go to lunch. If there's anything you need to ask dumb questions about whisper to Makoto and whatever you do don't start talking about mackerel or dolphins or seaweed or whatever. And if they ask you anything stick to the story we have, you've memorized it, right?"_

_Haruka nodded slowly at the mound of notes sitting between the three of them. It would take him a week to be able to read everything in there and even longer to memorize every intricate lie. "Yeah… I think so."_

_Rin ran his fingers through his hair and looked over at Makoto. "I guess that's everything then? We've got his clothes ready for tomorrow?" The brunette nodded. Both of them seemed so ready for this, unlike him._

_"It's getting late Makoto, we should head back."_

_Makoto blinked. "Oh… right. I guess we should go?"_

_He bent down and hugged Haru, that Makoto hug where his arms snaked under your armpits, one arm wrapped down around your waist and the other up around your shoulders like a human blanket._

_"Everything will be okay," he whispered. "I won't let anything bad happen to you. They really want to meet you."_

Haru rubbed his face, breaking his reliving of last night. He could still feel the memory of his blush as he and Makoto had pulled away. He’d felt comforted then. Makoto’s words always seemed to have that way with him just when he needed them most, but now, as the sun peeped over the bay, they felt like those words had been trying to reassure both of them.

Still, if he was going to call the date off Makoto deserved to be told in person. Haruka swam on.

 _Date._ The entire concept was foreign to him but it still gave him krill in the stomach thinking of it. The whole concept of setting aside an entire evening or day just to spend special time with the person you loved was something he’d never thought necessary a year ago but was all he could want today. Him and Makoto. Together. Happy. To know he’d get to do that today was enough to keep him moving forwards.

It only took a short time before he made it to the bay where he’d first met Makoto. A few lone seagulls were scavenging the beach for clams and in the distance he could hear birdsong. Haruka moved into the shallows, every nerve poised to pick up the smallest of sounds, the slowest flashes of movement. He dove beneath the waves as something jostled a tree branch, only to sheepishly realize it was one of those land animals Rin called a “Skuh-wer-rul”. One gull found a dead crab and the rest diverged around it in a great squawking mass. Behind him the fishing boats began to leave for a day at sea, Haruka ever so subtly moving over to where the rocky outcropping would block him from their view.

And then he came.

Makoto stumbled across the beach, anything other than beauty or grace as his sandal came off in a particularly large patch of beached seaweed, but to Haru it was all that. It was his Makoto, his human, racing towards him as fast as he could. It was in how he couldn’t care less about how he looked or how the bottoms of his clothes were soaked in the waves. It was that beaming smile and his shout of “HARUUUU~!” before he feebly managed that three note whistle Haruka had taught him months before. It was all that and more.

It felt like being welcomed home.

He collided into Makoto’s arms, letting them swing him around in a circle as the brunette’s laugh filled his ears.

“Haru! Oh my gosh you made it on time I thought you might be late since it’s so early and everything. I barely managed to wake up with my alarm I can’t imagine how you did it.” Makoto began to ramble off in his excitement, the merman content to just hang in his arms as they made their way up the beach.

“I brought that shirt of mine you liked to wear to the train station,” he said as they made their way up to the same wheel-chair Rin had used for him before. “I also brought one of Rin’s older jackets for you too in case you get cold, and this towel we can make wet so you don’t dry out too much today.”

Haru could only nod as he pulled on the shirt and allowed Makoto to help him put his arms through those of the jacket. _It’ll be okay_ he told himself. He reached his arms out, fingers grasping bare air until Makoto noticed and leaned down to rub their noses together. Haruka let the scent of Makoto wash against him – that soft, barely there essence – and placed a chaste kiss against the corner of his mouth. Makoto stood up, blushing.

“What was that for?”

“Nothing.” Haru’s own cheeks flushed.

“Ah,” mumbled Makoto, and Haru didn’t even need to see his face to know he was pleasantly embarrassed. “I guess we head off? Rin wanted me to show you everything before we’re supposed to meet him and the others.”

* * *

The entire way along Haruka couldn’t bring himself to speak. Makoto filled the silence, telling him about what his brother and sister had gotten up to this week and the wild cats in his neighbourhood learning how to get at his neighbour’s bird feeder. Despite his tail being well cloaked in a worn blanket he felt vulnerable, like any second now someone would rip it off and leave him naked and exposed. Last time he’d done this because he _needed_ to see Makoto, but this time… this time he was on display for Makoto’s friends. It wasn’t that he was being shown off because of _what_ he was, more that it was _who_ he was. Still, the gnawing in his stomach continued to remind him he was anything but calm.

Blessedly the streets of Iwatobi were deserted at this hour. Makoto was able to point out the arcade, the grocery store, and the road to the train station without them running into a single person. They made their way along the small coastal road, a gas station here, office building there, when they passed their first sign of life. The lights flickered on in a convenience store and Haru was a thread of rationality away from jumping from the chair and making a rush for the beach. He felt petrified, like a shark flipped on its back, as a shadowy figure moved towards the glass door.

“Makoto-kun! You’re out early!” An older human male waved at the tow of them as he dragged a “V” of wood out to the curb. “Who’s your friend there?”

His mind was blank. His limbs couldn’t move. In that second Haruka swore he’d forgotten how to breathe. _This was it._ _This was how he’d be taken for good_. He’d be taken form his pod, from his family and his people. He’d be taken from Makoto, all because one wrong human noticed him.  There was nowhere to run, any move he could make would only end in capture. All he could do was hug Makoto’s shirt to his chest, desperately praying some force out there could save him.

“Oh, he’s my friend Haru! We went to see the sun rise over the ocean and now we’re heading back. Good to see you Tadashi-san!”

The man pointed at him and Haru’s heart leapt into his throat.

“None to soon I think. Looks as though he might be catching a chill.” He smiled and adjusted the “V”. “I’d better finish setting up for the day, see you around!” And with that the man disappeared back into the store.

 _Was he going to run and tell the netters? Was he going to call scientists to poke and probe him?_ All these thoughts and worse tore through Haruka’s mind. There was no knowing how trustworthy that human was, no knowing how safe Makoto’s disguise could be. Today was a risk, a horrible terrible risk and this was just one human so far. By the end of the day there’d be dozens, and even if this one didn’t see through him there was bound to be one that would. There was only one way today could end.

“Haru?”

The merman blinked. His vision had gone white in dread and now Makoto was kneeling before him. Two large, warm hands surrounded his own.

“Are you okay?”

He couldn’t answer. How could he answer? _No, he was not okay_ , but that would only make Makoto sad and blame himself for putting him in this position. But he couldn’t lie and say he was fine. Makoto knew him better than that. He could most definitely feel how cold Haruka’s fingers were, how his shoulders and tail were trembling in fear. He desperately wanted to move even further with Makoto through human courtship, but each new step became more and more impossible. Soon there’d be no way he could keep up and the two of them would be forced to separate. Moving forward meant certain end, but moving backwards was more painful still.

Makoto rubbed the inside of Haru’s wrist, staring up at the merman’s face with the saddest of sad seal eyes. Slowly he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. Never taking his eyes off Haru he typed in a number and brought it to his ear.

“Hello, Rin? We have to make a change of plans.”

* * *

He felt awful. It was worse than a stomach of curdled milk. As soon as Makoto turned them around he couldn’t bear to look at him. Haru couldn’t even bring himself to watch the road in fear that spotting another human would make things even worse. All he could do was stare at his hands in his lap and count the stitches in the blanket. They moved in silence through the town streets, undoubtedly back to a private bay where Makoto could let him go and wave to him with a fake smile carved across his face to hide his disappointment.

Haruka lost track of time. When they finally stopped moving he couldn’t say if it had been minutes or hours that they’d been travelling. He blinked and began to peel of the jacket, desperate to avoid seeing Makoto look anything other than that special mood of calm and excited that it barely registered to him that they weren’t on sand. Only when Makoto gently took his arm and slide the fabric back on to him did he realize they were still on a street.

“Wh-where?” he began, but all that was answered as Makoto coaxed his chin up. There was the faint sound of children laughing and a familiar house front. Two wayward fluffy land-otters were rubbing against Makoto’s legs and letting out mewing sounds.

It wasn’t home, but it would do.


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so continues Haru's confusing, stressful day of meet the people that will undoubtedly embarrass him and Makoto

Haru wasn’t sure what to do as Makoto brought him into the house’s belly. He was tempted to join in on Makoto’s _“Tadaima!”_ but stopped himself before his lips could form the sounds. There was a thunderous storm of thumping and shouts as Makoto’s siblings blew down the stairs (Haru wincing as they sped down the death trap) but as they skittered across the landing on socked feet they went mute. For once it seemed like Ran was unable to talk and it was Ren that broke silence first.

“Haru-chan! Haru-chan’s back!” The human calf threw himself on the merman and managed to wriggle his way onto his lap. His sister joined him a heartbeat later and the pair of them latched onto him like a clingy octopus.

“Haru-chan! Why didn’t you come and visit sooner?”

“Tell onii-chan he has to bring us to see you more!”

“Mom made shrimp croquettes last night! Do you want one?”

“No! We should cook up the trout we have in the fridge for him!”

Makoto chuckled and managed to push the crowded wheelchair onto the level of the hallway. “It’s great to see you guys too.”

Ran turned from playing with Haruka’s cheeks. “Oh, right. Hi onii-chan,” she mumbled, and went right back too smooshing them together until the merman looked like a puffer fish.

“So Haru-chan, did onii-chan tell you about the new stuffed animal he bought?”

“Ah… how about we save that for later Ran? Is mom around?” The girl snorted.

“She’s getting dressed upstairs. If you’re going to talk to her Ren and I want to play with Haru.”

Makoto cocked his head. “Do you mind Haru? It’s just a quick question, I’ll be right back.” Ren and Ran scrambled off the wheelchair and took the handles from him.

“He’ll be fine onii-chan! We’ll keep him company!” He was already being pushed down the hall, away from Makoto... Ren was asking if he’d had breakfast yet and Ran was already chittering away about some type of moon sailor thing. He spun around to stare at Makoto. Makoto, bless him, was violently mouthing apologies, one hand outstretched as if it couldn’t quite grasp the fact Haru’s chair wasn’t in it.

“Be quick” he mouthed back as he was swung around a corner.

The room the twins had brought him into was quite possibly one of the most cluttered places he’d ever been. There were bright poofy sponges shaped like things and tiny miniature people, not to mention the number or random circles, boxes, tiny clothing and books. Everywhere he looked it was like an octopus had shot human junk instead of ink.

“What…” he started to ask, but Ren and Ran were already gently easing him out of the chair and onto a pile of animal shaped sponges (some of them seemed to be hairy). Ran grabbed an orca shaped one as big as herself and lay down next to him.

“So, Haru-chan. What’s been going on with you and my brother?”

“I… what do you mean?”

Ran pouted. “Like what do you guys do when you hang out? And how often do you hang out? And are you guys just really good friends or do you _like_ like each other?”

This wasn’t the same type of interrogation they’d given him last time.

“W-we just… talk and play games and stuff…” he stuttered. “And it’s only every few days-“

Ren rolled his eyes. “Onii-chan comes home smelling like seaweed 6 out of 7 days of the week Haru-chan. We know it’s more than that.”

“W-well Rin joins us half the time!”

“Riiiiiiight,” added Ran in that tone of voice Rin always used when he was trying to mean the opposite of what he meant and make fun of it at the same time. _Car-smasm_ or something like that. “Look Haru-chan. Do you like onii-chan?”

He was suddenly intensely aware of how hot his ears were getting. Haruka quickly tried to splay his hair over them, hoping that the twins might just be naïve enough to think it was some special mermaid grooming thing.

“Don’t lie Haru-chan. We won’t tell anyone,” piped in Ren. “We just wanted to ask and all… especially since onii-chan and you were hugging for a really long time and he kissed your forehead when we brought you back to the ocean that time.”

Thirty different sailor words for “my ass is in trouble” came to mind.

 “Why don’t you ask Makoto?” he asked as calmly as possible, still fiddling with his hair.

“We did. And he went red in the face and almost choked on his toothbrush.”

“Which in onii-chan means _‘yes but I’m not going to admit it because I’m too embarrassed’_ ” sighed Ran. “He does the same thing when I ask if he was the one recording all those sappy movies on TV.”

“Does you trying to hide your ears right now means you feel the same way too? They’re awfully red.”

If they were in the ocean Haruka could have just dove underwater and back away as fast as his fins could manage. Instead he opted to shove his head into the sweater he’d borrowed.

The twins poked his belly. “Haru- _channnnn_. Come _onnnnn_.” He refused to move. One of them tugged at the head hole but he just flopped onto the floor and buried it under the weird hairy sponges. “ _Haruuuu”_ they whined again and he was suddenly reminded of Makoto when he didn’t want to get in the water with Haruka and that way half his lip pouted and he was blushing even more. Little fingers were roaming all over him like crabs and he had to bite the shirt to keep from crying out it tickled so much but he couldn’t let them win.

The twins kept at it, managing to get access to his armpits and the battle was really starting to slide for him. He doubled over, writhing this way and that trying to shake them but they held fast, not giving even as he began to laugh uncontrollably at _how much it tickled_. His stomach felt like it might burst.

“What’s going on in here?”

The crabby fingers stopped their tickling and Haruka peeped out of the shirt. Makoto was standing sideways – oh wait, it was him that was sideways – scratching his cheek. He looked at Haru, then to the twins and back again.

“Were they ganging up on you Haru?”

Ran made an offended noise, as if she’d _never_ try to interrogate someone through ticking and Haru just had to shake his tail and slide her off onto her butt. He pretended he didn’t see her angry pufferfish impression.

“Maybe?”

The twins launched into a chorus of denial and apologies, Haru and Makoto barely sure where one word ended and another began as the cacophony of his siblings voices faded to background noise. They were practically dangling from Makoto’s limbs now, the gentle giant barely giving them any heed as he tried to speak over them.

“Sorry about that Haru! I thought it’d just be easier to run up and talk to her and leave you with them. Do you want to have a soak?”

Haruka nodded enthusiastically and made for Makoto’s arms. Out of water now he could barely raise himself above the boy’s waist, even when he teetered dangerously balanced on his tail. But Makoto just laughed and pulled Haru up until his chin could rest on the brunette’s shoulder and his hands slide down Haru’s waist to cup just below his hips.

“I guess away we go,” he chuckled into the merman’s ear. The twins awwwed at the pair leaving.

“Can’t we play with Haru-chan more?” begged Ran.

“Maybe later,” said Makoto. “But can you guys clean up in here first? I don’t think mom will be all that willing to make pancakes if she trips over that Hot Wheels track.”

Over Makoto’s shoulder Haruka watched as the twins began to toss object madly into this box and that as they left. Makoto’s smell was all around him right now, much more than when they were at the ocean. Something about the salt air must always have masked it because here in his home and in his clothes it was an entirely different story. The faint, sweet notes that tiptoed over his nostrils were no longer muddled, but crisp and clear like footprints in wet sand. He drank it in, not even caring that Makoto let out a hum of confusion as he tugged his companion’s shirt closer to his nose. He barely even realized they started climbing the stairs until Makoto made it up two.

_“NO!”_

“H-Haru what’s-“

“NO NO NO PUT ME DOWN MAKOTO.” Haruka struggled against Makoto’s arms, desperately trying to break free before they could fall again. Makoto stumbled backwards and he immediately tried to climb higher on the boy’s body and protect as much of Makoto’s head as possible.

“Haru you’re being silly… I’ll be fine…”

He was wrestling against Makoto now, hands having found some purchase on the opening hole to another room.

“Haru please! I don’t want to drop you! You’re going to fall and hurt yourself!”

“ _You’re_ going to fall if _you_ don’t let go!” He gave a few kicks of the tail for good measure but Makoto was using his dorsal fin to his advantage.

“Haru that time was because it was dark!”

“ _STILL!_ Not going to happen!”

“HARU PLEASE! I’ll go slow!”

“You’re not carrying me up that death trap and that’s FINAL!”

“Now what in god’s good name is going on down here?”

The two of them swiveled their heads so fast Haruka swore he heard Makoto’s neck crack.

Makoto’s mother stood not 4 feet in front of them, one eyebrow raised the only sign of any confusion on her otherwise straight face as she looked at her son attempting to tug a merman off her doorframe by the flippers.

“Why are we fighting?” she asked in a tone that suggested she already knew everything but wanted them to confess themselves.

Makoto began to babble sheepishly. “We’re not fighting… we just, well, Haru… he doesn’t want to go up the stairs… he thinks we’ll get hurt or something when really we won’t…”

“Not true,” snorted Haru. “Look what happened last time.”

“But that was an exception!”

“Boys, boys, boys!” Sayuri shook her head and crossed her arms. “Haruka-kun clearly had a bad experience the last time so him reacting this way is hardly unexpected…”

Haru gave Makoto a triumphant look.

“But also Makoto is right in that a fall like last time is quite rare and if you’re both calm and not fighting like right now there won’t be a problem.”

Haru frowned instantly. “I’m not going up those things.”

Ms. Tachibana sighed and rubbed her temple. It was something so small but the gesture instantly reminded him of her son. The same knit brows and tired expression.

“Haruka-kun, you’re clearly worried about getting hurt, correct?”

“Yes.”

“And Makoto, do you really need to bring him upstairs?”

“Well, we don’t have a bathtub or basin on the main floor and he can’t be out of water that long…”

 _“Fine,_ ” she sighed. “Ren honey!” she shouted down the hall, “could you grab yours and Ran’s bike helmets please?”

“What’s a _bye-kuh-her-mit_?” asked Haruka.

* * *

5 minutes later he knew that a bike helmet was a hard jellyfish-like thing to protect a human’s head. They were also covered in either multicoloured bubble patterns or swirls of hot sunset. But they were guaranteed to keep him and Makoto safe so he allowed himself to be carried up the stairs to the bath-room without protest (though he _did_ warn Makoto about any possible obstacle on their way up, and _maybe_ mentioning that strand hair was a bit of overkill).

As soon as Makoto shut the door Haruka was ripping his head protection off and making a bee-line for the tub. He wriggled over the side, stuck momentarily on the edge, and slid into the bright white walls of the basin.

“Makoto make the water come! Makoto make the water come out of the metal thingy!” He was tugging off his borrowed clothing as quickly as he could, tossing the fabric at Makoto’s feet as he bounced in excitement at the thought of being wet.

“Okay, okay! Give me a second Haru.” With a few twists the small pool was filling with warm water and Haruka let out a sigh of contentment. Even if they had wrapped his tail in a wet towel when they’d left his skin had already started to dry. He sluiced water up and down over the parts of his body still left uncovered and wondered how he could possibly cool the water down a bit more.  He was just about to ask Makoto if he could make it so when there was another smack of fabric on the stone floor.

Makoto’s name faltered on Haru’s lips as right in front of him his mate peeled off his shirt. Come to think of it, Haruka had never seen Makoto remove his clothing. They’d pulled swimsuits off of him before in the past, but that was pretty much background to all the kissing and touching before sex. His throat went dry as he watched Makoto’s abs ripple as he tugged the bottom of the shirt free of his waist, sucked in a breath as the boy’s chest flexed as it was hoisted up over his head, and couldn’t help but feel a flicker of heat from his lower half at the fluid sweep those arms made as they whipped the clothing down onto the floor.

The pants came next, less graceful than the shirt but still just as enthralling. The slight struggle with the flat snake wrapped around his waist, its smooth removal from its confining straps, the little dance of Makoto’s fingers as he fiddled with the front flap, all cascading into the brunette shimmying his hips free. They pooled at his ankles, leaving Makoto standing stark naked before him, blushing slightly.

“Ah.. Haru… why are you staring?” The merman’s eyes were still sweeping up and down his body.

“You’re naked.”

“W-well yeah?”

Haruka drummed his fingers along the rim of the bathtub. “Why are you naked? Are we going to have sex?”

“N-n-noooo!” Makoto stammered, hands shooting down to cover his groin and greatly diminishing the view.

Haruka grunted his displeasure and rolled over to face the other way. He knew  that just because there was an exposed penis under clothes _didn’t_ automatically mean Makoto wanted sex, he’d been fairly certain that if Makoto willingly took those clothes off it meant sex was to follow.  

Apparently not though.

“W-well… pardon the intrusion.”

Haruka hardly batted an eye, or at least not until the tub water began to slosh and something slid down the length of his tail. Makoto’s arm, no doubt. But then there was more sloshing and more and more things rubbing and touching and _that was definitely not just an arm_ he was pretty sure that could only be _one_ part of Makoto’s body and that was definitely not an arm.

Trying to remain cool he chanced a glance from the corner of his eye. The brunette was seated across from him, buttocks partially on his fluke and feet hooked behind the bend in his tail.

Makoto was in the tub with him.

Makoto was naked.

Makoto was _naked_ , in the small, confined space of the tub, with _him_.

He wasn’t sure what to make of this but from now on if the bathtub was ever warm he was _definitely_  going to expect this.

Makoto gave him a sheepish grin and splashed a handful of water on his face. “Sorry, I need to wash up too, so we might as well do it together.”

If it was possible to travel faster than the speed of sound Haruka just did. Water splashing everywhere he ripped his tail out from under Makoto and spun himself around. He pulled himself flush against Makoto, Makoto’s warm stomach pressed against his own as he stared up into those big green eyes. His green eyes in way… like sunshine through lush sea lettuce. Haru wriggled closer, ever so subtly rubbing his slit against Makoto’s semi-floaty floppy penis. It was a light tease, not enough to make himself show, but enough that he could feel a small spark of satisfaction in his midsection.

“You’re… really enthusiastic about this aren’t you Haru? “ Makoto asked, his head cocked in that trademark Makoto way that was one part confused and 6 parts cute. “I guess we can cuddle but it might make it harder to soap up.”

 _Soap up_. _Was that human slang for get prepared?_ Haru grazed against Makoto again, harder this time, a definite wash of sensation below his hips.

Makoto – bless him or curse him, Haru didn’t quite know – remained oblivious to his advances, instead fiddling about the edge of the tub with a smooth white stone. Not important for what he had in mind. He’d have to make a more obvious move.

Haruka buried his nose in Makoto’s skin, drinking in the scent and picturing it rising and falling with gasping breaths. Visions of Makoto splayed out beneath him, legs wide, face and nipples and cock pink, writhing as Haru slid in and out of him to the rhythm of their ever quickening heartbeats. Imagining the taste of Makoto’s mouth in their heated bouts – different, more addicting than their other kisses – and the sound of Makoto’s cock slapping against his abdomen.

This time, _finally this time_ , he would take Makoto in the water. Not on the rocks with the surf spraying flecks of foam over them, not tangled together on the shore with the waves lapping at their heels. This time it would be well and truly in the water, touching every inch of their bodies as Makoto took him inside himself. Makoto’s warm, snug embrace of his cock, how he’d cave as Haruka molded himself to his shape and how Makoto would whine and shudder as his body desperately tried to hold Haru’s perfectly inside, completely wrapped in the water’s perfect embrace.

He was keening now, cock searching for Makoto’s entrance as his face grew hot from the thought of them together that way. He grazed against Makoto’s lip eel of a dick and paused. He shouldn’t be the only one feeling this way. Gently, gently so not to startle Makoto, he wrapped himself around Makoto and gave a light squeeze.

_“HARU!”_

The bath sloshed as Makoto jerked back, his eyes flung wide with shock. Haru’s penis loosened slightly, tip just resting against Makoto’s slit as he looked up at the boy in confusion.

“You don’t want to?”

Makoto’s entire top half was sunburn red. “W-wh-what made you think that?”

A lump of ice twisted in Haruka’s belly. He’d guessed wrong… he was the naïve merman yet again. Makoto’s touch against his skin felt wrong, like he’d just soiled it. Haruka curled around his tail away from Makoto. He refused to look at him.

“I… I thought…” he whispered, “I thought… because you were, well because you made yourself… naked. Right in front of me… and joined me… that you wanted us to…”

Something touched his hand. He pulled it away.

“Don’t…” he mumbled. “I was stupid. I did it without asking you.”

“Haruka…” Makoto took his hand once again, fingers firmly intertwining themselves together as he turned the palm over. “I don’t think you’re stupid.”

“But I don’t know anything about you or anything human…”

He watched as Makoto picked up the white stone and dunked it in the bath. “That’s not true.”

“It is.” Makoto touched it to Haru’s skin. It was soft and slippery, leaving a thin trail of fresh-scented bubbles behind when Makoto slid it back and forth.

“No it isn’t. You know I’m not that comfortable swimming in the ocean but I’m still trying to get over that. You can tell when I’m upset about something even if I’m trying to hide it. You know how to draw and how to use a camera phone and even a spoon.” He massaged the bubble-stone into Haru’s wrist in small circles, slowly moving up the arm.

“You knew that today was a big risk, even more than the time you came to visit me when sick.  But you also knew how important it was to me and my friends so you came, even if being taken onto land terrifies you.”

“H-how?” Haruka had done everything he could to try and make Makoto and Rin believe he’d be okay with everything required of him today. He’d even rattled off a list of human foods he’d tried and heard about that he wanted them to let him eat.

Makoto smiled and put the bubble-stone down, beginning to sluice water down Haruka’s arm with his fingers, bubbles rolling off in rivulets.

“Because even if I don’t know everything about mermaids or dolphins I know you enough to tell what makes you happy and what makes you upset.” He picked up the stone and began again with the other arm. “As soon as we passed by the convenience store I knew I’d asked too much of you. It’d be like you taking me out to the open ocean to catch fish.”

“But your friends-“ started Haru.

“They’re important to me, yes, but so are you Haru. I’m not going to put you in a place you’re not comfortable to try and make them happy.” He tugged Haruka towards him and the merman gave in, lying his chin against Makoto’s knee as the boy began to move the washy rock against his shoulders now. “I talked to Rin and my mom and they both agreed I shouldn’t make you go through with what we planned. Instead we’re just going to have my friends over here, where you’re familiar and safe and have hot pot together. Rin’s going to get ingredients with the others while you and I wash up and make the soup.”

Haruka squirmed about between Makoto’s legs, eventually managing an awkward contortion that let him look face to face with Makoto. .

“Hot pot? Here?”

Makoto smiled. That warm, sunset smile that reminded Haruka of day-warmed waters and soft light. “Yeah. It’s probably better this way too. Besides, I think it might be more fun than taking you out for sushi and crepes. Where did you hear about sushi anyway?”

“Rin,” said Haruka as he rested his cheek on Makoto’s thigh. He’d been interested in seeing just what it was but the idea of a pot of seafood and human plants and noodles and dumplings sounded even better.

“Huh. I guess I’ll have to ask him about that another time. Here, let me wash your hair too.” He repositioned themselves in the tub, Haruka’s back against his chest, Haru’s dorsal fin carefully positioned on top of his thigh and not stabbing into his groin. His still very floppy not at all attentive penis bobbed by the merman’s hip.

“So that’s why you didn’t want to…?”

Makoto stopped squirting what was seemed to be a large volume of flowery-smelling whale cum into his hand.

“I like doing that with you Haru, no doubt about that.”

“Was it because you were scared your family might walk in on it?”

Makoto stiffened against him. Haru still didn’t know about the time Rin walked in on him with his fingers up his ass, there was no way Makoto was going to relive that moment with anyone remotely blood related to him.

“ _Yes_ ,” said Makoto in a small voice. If he ever saw that expression on his little siblings’ faces he would die right then and there. “But also… well, being together means more than just sex, right? Members in your pod do more than just mate with others they like, don’t they?”

Haruka nodded and wrinkled his nose as Makoto started rubbing the strange viscous liquid into his hair. They’d swim together or rub pectoral fins or catch fish for one another. Makoto began to massage his scalp, his long fingers rubbing and working the mixture into a lather as Haruka caved into him.

“It’s nice to do other things like this too. Stuff only couples can do together other than sex of kissing. Like cuddling as you sleep or sharing food or taking baths together.”

Haruka could only let out a “ _mmm”_ sound as he let Makoto continue to massage all the tension from him. It was something small, nothing exciting or filled with heat and vigor. But it felt good; warm and safe.

It just felt right.


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> with absolutely zero excuse for hiatusing for 6 months other than love live and the compulsive need to watch anything half decent on netflix, we're back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> insert self hate about procrastinating forever and writers block excuses here. on the other hand though, it's a longer chapter! Technically two chapters where I forgot I'd added a break in there until I finished the second, so at least that's a small bonus!

Other than Haruka nearly talking him into having sex 10 feet above his family’s heads, Makoto thought their bath together went relatively well. By the end of it the merman timidly asked if he could try washing Makoto’s hair (but not before a lengthy attempt at explaining what shampoo was). It had been so nice to just _be_ together that even as the water cooled down he wanted to stay. Unfortunately there was still more prep work to be done before the others got to the house, so grudgingly Makoto dragged himself from the tub, toweled off, and headed downstairs to help.

His mother was in the middle of sprinkling herbs and adding dashes of sauces to a slowly boiling pot of chicken stock as he walked in the kitchen. He gave her a timid smile and slid in beside her with a bashful “thank you”. 

“Is there something I can do to help now? Measuring maybe?”

She raised an eyebrow, barely looking away from the stream of mirin spiraling into the brew. “What about Haruka-kun? Is he alright?”

“He’s still up in the bath, I thought he’d be more comfortable there for now.” Haru had a sketchbook, a small handful of rice cakes, and the twin’s vast collection of bath toys. When he’d left the room the merman hadn’t even bothered to look up from Ren’s windup shark.

Sayuri smiled. “That’s good. And it seems as though you missed the majority of the cooking as well, I’m almost done here. You said Rin’s bringing the other ingredients?”

“The meat, mushrooms and noodles, yeah. We just need… oh! I could chop the vegetables for you then!” He dashed over to the fridge and pulled out some pumpkin and greens. The last thing he wanted was to let his mom do everything for him.

“Just be careful not to cut yourself dear!” His mom watched worriedly as Makoto rushed back to the counter, knife swinging wildly in hand. “Slow down a bit please.”

“R-right! Sorry mom!”

Makoto took his time chopping. Not because he was trying to make his less than perfect knife skills yield flawless cuts or anything… but by the last vegetables he’d thrown presentation to the wind and was simply trying to avoid running out of time. The cabbage and bok choy were dumped unceremoniously onto a plate with the pumpkin before he was running out into the hallway and up the stairs.

“Makoto, slow down or else you’ll-“

His socked feet slipped out from under him, and it was only with tremendous luck and effort that he managed to catch himself on the railing.

“ – fall and worry Haruka-kun.”

 _Stupid stairs_ , thought Makoto.

Haru was right where he’d left him, now playing with the legs of one of Ran’s jointed dolls. He looked up as Makoto came to sit on the edge of the tub.

“Makoto,” Haruka held up the doll, its knees pushed up to its shoulders. “Can you bend like this as well?”

The question caught him off guard.

“Ah… I don’t know, maybe? I stretch a fair bit for swimming, but I don’t think I’ve ever tried to do something like that before… I could see?”

Haruka was wrapping the legs around the other way, feet almost hooking around to the ears. “What about this? Can humans do this too?”

“M-maybe…?”

He watched as Haruka twisted the doll’s head 180 and pushed the legs into some impossible, further-than-the-splits split, already knowing the question he was going to be asked as the elbows were bent backwards.

“What about- "

Makoto gently took the toy from Haru before they went over this 10 more times with different impossible poses. “No, I don’t think so. Dolls like these don’t always move exactly like people.”

Haru’s nose wrinkled cutely at the toy as Makoto pulled the plug. Begrudgingly he wriggled out of the tub and onto the bathmat. He reached up, waiting for Makoto to carry him. “Then why make them?" 

“Well,” Makoto mused as he toweled down Haru’s hair, “it’s fun to play with things that look like people you know, but it’s tricky to make something that’s a perfect copy.”

“Like making a mackerel on paper. It might look just like it but it doesn’t taste right.”

_There was no way Haru’d tried eating a drawing of a mackerel there was just NO WAY he would possibly ever-_

It was right then Makoto’s phone decided to ring, but low and behold he was still cycling through the improbability – or well, he _really_ hoped it was – of the merman chowing down on what even his siblings as toddlers knew not to eat… oh God…

So that of course meant Haru fished it out of Makoto’s pants, pressed 6 different buttons, and finally answered it.

“What?”

“ _OOOH IS THAT HARU-CHAN IS HARU-CHAN ANSWERING MAKOTO’S PHONE??”_ Even across two feet and a phone line Nagisa’s voice screamed loud and clear. Haruka screwed his eyes together and appeared to be trying very hard not to throw the phone in the toilet as Nagisa continued to babbled over what was _definitely_ a grouchy Rin. Fortunately for him the call only seemed to last a minute, Haru nodding and mhming as Nagisa continued to talk over Rin about how _cute_ and _oh wow Mako-chan lets Haru-chan answer his phone they’re like a really close couple_ and so on until Rin ended the call.

For once it was Makoto doing the slow, confused blink at Haru.

“So… what’s…?”

“Rin said they’re 10 minutes away and something about meat is heavy and Nagisa won’t shut up.”

“So you’re saying… everything’s normal?”

The merman shrugged. “I unno. I guess? For humans at least?”

Makoto slid down the wall to sit. “My friends are far from normal,” he sighed. “But… if Rin said they’re that close…” he jumped back up, “ _Crap!_ We need to get you dressed fast!”

He didn’t even manage to pick up Haruka fully in his rush. The merman’s tail dragged along on the ground as Makoto booked it back to his room, dropping him unceremoniously onto the bed on his way to the closet.

“I know we picked out an outfit for you… something cute… something that you didn’t complain smelled too much like Rin… but where did I put it??”

“Wheelchair?” offered Haruka.

“YES!!!!” Makoto spun around, barely saved himself from running into the laundry basket, and whipped himself around the doorframe. “Rin left some sweaters for you! Pick one out!”

When he returned 43 seconds later the laundry basket was overturned, crumpled shirts and pants flopped over Haruka’s body and head and one of the merman’s soft smiles on his face as he whiffed the sandy white shirt he’d pulled on.

Makoto couldn’t help but smile.

The other shirt he’d picked out for Haru was tossed into the chaotic mess that was now his room and – with a fair bit of wriggling and coaxing – got him dressed. The sweater they’d decided on was a flowy black cardigan. It was the type that fell off the shoulders easily and draped down to the knees, sleeves long enough that if Haru didn’t push them up they’d flop down over his hands.

 _Too cute_ , he thought as Haruka stared up at him with confusion. _Way too cute dressed like this._ The little half pout on his face wasn’t helping either, but unfortunately they didn’t have the time to spare. Haru shimmied over into his arms, and, _once again_ , with helmets, they went down the stairs.

They’d barely managed to get Haruka’s blanket back in place over his lap before a thunderous drum solo from the hands of a 2 year old banged against the door. From the corner of his eye Makoto saw Haru stiffen, such a small movement, but even so…

“Hey,” he said gently. He wound his fingers between Haru’s. “It’ll be okay. I won’t let anything happen to you.” A chaste kiss pressed against the merman’s forehead.

“I promise.”

Haruka let out a shaky sigh.

“Ok. I’m ready.”

* * *

The first thing through the door was noise. So much noise, like a whirlwind of sailors on the docks times ten, pitched up several degrees as well. And then there were limbs and faces and rainbow hair as red and red and yellow and blue shoved their way inside the house. Rin was first, and – Haruka noticed – trying and failing to hold the other three back.

“Oh my gosh is this Haruka?!”

“He’s so pretty!”

“Makoto, where do you want the food?”

“You never said he was in a wheelchair, he’s in a wheelchair Rin-chan how could you not tell us that?!”

“Is that why we didn’t go to the café?”

“Guys he’s looking at us strangely!”

Haruka refused to release his grip on Makoto’s hand, watching the three newcomers for any sudden movements. There were a lot, especially from the yellow one.

“Ah… guys, maybe calm down for a second?” Makoto asked. The pod… school… group(?) of humans began to settle. When the three of them were quiet he spoke again.

“This is Haruka… my boyfriend.” Makoto blushed at that last word, and even Haruka could feel a touch of heat rise in his cheeks at it. “He’s a little quieter and shier than you guys, but I really want you all to get along. So, uh…” he bowed. “Please accept us!" 

He blinked as the red haired girl laughed and the blue haired male nodded.

“Of course we do Makoto-sempai, we just really wanted to meet the person that makes you so happy!”

“Also, can I ride in his chair?” added the blonde. “Just this once. Or maybe a few times! I wanna try it!”

“Nagisa-kun! That isn’t something you ask someone you just met, especially about something sensitive like that! Find a more tactful moment than that!”

The two began to bicker back and forth, leaving the other four to watch in confusion (Haruka) and amusement (probably everyone else). The girl detached herself from the others and came to stand before him. Haruka’s heartbeat rose. What if she could tell he had a tail? What was she going to do?

“Hello Haruka-kun.” She spoke softly, with a voice that made him think of sunny days. “I’m Gou, Rin’s sister. And the other two over there are Rei,” she pointed at the blue one, then the yellow, “and Nagisa. They’re like this sometimes, you just have to let them talk themselves out. It’s really nice to meet you though! Hopefully we haven’t scared you off already.”

She reached out a hand. Haruka looked at it, because what _was_ he supposed to do with it?

Rin was violently pantomiming behind her, some type of action that involved throwing your entire arm up and down like an insane seagull. He grabbed his other hand and did it again, then let go to resume the crazy practice, eyes slowly bugging out more and more with each second Haruka stared at him in mild interest.

Slowly he reached out his hand towards Gou’s, but before he could wave it around (likely smashing her face up in the process), she took it in her own and shook it up and down. At about a quarter of Rin’s speed.

He shot a look at Rin. _You have no idea what you’re doing._

Rin’s groan and shoulder sag, complete with _oh my god look who’s talking_ , was unfortunately lost on him as Gou asked if she could wheel Haruka into the kitchen. His grip tightened on the chair’s arm rail and he was leading the parade of humans deeper into the house, Nagisa now bickering away with Gou.

“No fair Gou-chan! You didn’t let us introduce ourselves to Haru-chan!”

Haruka wasn’t even looking and he could see the nose tilt that came with the girl’s huff.

“ _You_ were the one who was too busy talking about him and not to him to do it!”

“Well I wouldn’t have if Rei-chan hadn’t started talking back to me.”

“ _DON’T DRAG ME INTO THIS NAGISA-KUN!”_

Makoto and Haruka exchanged glances, Makoto’s sheepish, his own neutral.

 _Sorry about them being so rowdy_ , it seemed to say. Haru blinked.

 _They’re really loud, but it’s okay for now._ He twisted his lip. _Is Nagisa ever quiet?_

The “WAOOOOOO” that came as the walked into the kitchen answered that one. No. Apparently never. If this Nagisa even talked while he slept Haruka wouldn’t be surprised.

“Mako-chan! Your mom’s soup smells amazing!” the blonde dashed around the mess of chairs and plunked himself right in front of the pot. “Rin-chan, bring the meat over!”

The redhead snorted. “You’re a bottomless pit Nagisa, let the rest of us sit down before you devour it all.”

There was so much… talking. And bickering. And just all out too much going on at once. Makoto and Rin’s friends… they were like two new sets of Makoto’s siblings but bigger and crazier. Was this how human friends always acted? Rin and Makoto teased each other sometimes, but it was never quite like this… would it always be like this?

Haruka ended up between Makoto and Rin, a buffer between the other three across the table from him. Now that there was food on the table Nagisa had quieted down, dropping chunks of vegetables into the bubbling broth and passing plates out over talking. Rei busy folding squares of fabric (Rin had called them napkins) into crazy fan and bird shapes because, in his own words, “they weren’t beautiful enough”. Gou was the only one of the newcomers not playing around with table things, instead talking to her big brother. 

“Oh, Haruka-kun,” she swiveled to look at him, a friendly smile not unlike those Makoto had. “I was wondering you could tell us how you and Makoto met. Seeing as how you don’t go to our school and all.”

The chunk of radish he was eating caught in his throat.

“A-ahhh…” he glanced at Makoto in a desperate bid. Rin had quizzed him on this numerous times already… the whole dumb fake story about how they met and his life as a fake human and he was blanking on it so hard right now.  His hands were starting to shake and his teeth chattering.

“He goes to Samezuka with me.” Rin gave him a wink. “He’s not on the swim team but he lives in my dorm. Different floor. “

“Right!” Makoto joined in. “I was over there to meet up with Rin and he texted me to come up and meet him in his room.”

 _“Ohhhh Rin-chan, what were you planning?_ ” The blonde’s eyebrows danced up and down as he gave Rin a coy look.

“ _NOTHING NAGISA. GOD_!!”

“A-anyway,” stuttered Makoto, ears now a similar colour as the raw meat, “I got into the building and saw someone in a wheelchair, looking at the elevator. Out of service. It was silly but I went over and asked where he was going.”’

Haruka realized he’d barely spoken a word of the whole story. Fingers fumbling in his lap, he jumped in.

“Ah… then… well, since he was going upstairs…” his cheeks were flushed as he attempted to stammer out what he should have been able to do on his own, “…he carried me up himself… in his arms. All the way up… even though I was scared…” He chanced a glance at the others.

Gou’s mouth was open in a round “O”. Rei looked mildly surprised, hopefully not in a bad way, and he could swear Nagisa’s eyes were sparkling brighter than stars. He looked to Makoto, the only one he really knew how to read and was surprised to see the same face the brunette made when he’d first seen Haruka breech. Why he was looking that way about this was lost to him though.

“I found them 10 minutes later talking on the floor below me and made Makoto get his number before he regretted it a hour later.” Rin flashed his sister a cheeky grin and fished around in the soup pot for a mushroom. “Had to sit in on a few of their dates just to make sure they weren’t going to mess anything up.”

Haru pouted. “ _You_ insisted.”

“Rin-chan was a third wheel?” Nagisa tilted his head, teeny pout of interest directed at Haruka. The merman blinked in confusion. _That was interesting to him?_

“He kept joining us and setting up dates until he was sure I wasn’t going to hurt Makoto. Went ahead picking movies and getting snacks and setting things up until he was happy.”

“Rin-sempai! That’s amazing you were so protective of Makoto-sempai! Almost like you were his big brother.”

“Awww onii-chan… you care so much even if you don’t want to admit it!”

“You planned their dates? Rin-chan you played matchmaker! How do we know you didn’t break the elevator on purpose so they’d meet? You wanted their love to succeed!”

“You guyssss…. Rin’s getting really embarrassed,” Makoto said with a gesture at the now utterly speechless redhead. His lips were slightly parted, face pink, with chopsticks frozen halfway to his mouth. In his fluster he hadn’t even noticed his noodles had fallen back into his bowl.

“Rin, your noodles.” Haru nudged him. He leaned closer and dropped his voice. “Also. Thanks for everything.”

* * *

The rest of the afternoon was filled with inane conversations. He learned how Makoto had met everyone, what a penguin was, about Gou’s birthday party and that the nipple cake he’d had was supposed to be Rin’s, even about how Rei had trouble with swimming. By the time they’d run out of food to cook he felt safe around them.

It was slightly different than the type of safe he felt around Makoto, where the two of them could just _be_ next to each other, no words, no movements, and just feel an overwhelming sense of contentment and peace. It was similar to how he felt around the twins. The silences weren’t quite as comfortable, he wasn’t sure if he could say something wrong, but as Rin and Makoto and Gou cleared dishes he felt none of the panic being with them as he had this morning. They were like dolphins from another pod; strangers mixed with kinship. 

Haru blinked. He’d been zoning out, lost in his own mind and now things around him had changed. Rei had confiscated the last of the sweet sugary dough balls from Nagisa, much to the younger one’s chagrin.

“Nagisa… we promised Ren and Ran we’d save them some for after dinner!”

“But they didn’t bring food for hotpot! Or do the dishes!” Nagisa made a tremendous leap for the plate, but the bespectacled boy lifted it just out of reach.

“Neither did you. Now if you’d like to help the rest of us clean you can. Otherwise keep Haruka-san company and _STOP POUTING AT ME LIKE THAT!!”_

The blonde batted big sad seal eyes at Rei. “Aww Rei-chan… you’re so mean.” He followed the taller boy’s receding back until it turned the corner, but as soon as it turned the corner he whirled around, sad face replaced with a cheeky grin.

“So Haru-chan…”

The merman instantly started reevaluating his previous thought.

“Rei-chan wouldn’t let me ask earlier, but how long have you not been able to walk? Was it like… because of a car accident, or maybe a shark bit them off?” Oooo or maybe something cool like jumping off a building escaping ninjas!!”

Haru wasn’t quite sure how loud, yellow haired boys in orange clothes meant no walking, but according to humans like Nagisa it must make sense.

His nose wrinkled. “Never… ?”

“Whaaaa! Really? So that means you’ve never walked in your life? What about swimming have you ever been in a pool? That must be so tough, you’ve never been able to sneak cookies off the top shelf! Haru-chan you’ve had it hard!”

“I’ve never had legs, so it doesn’t bother me.” The idea of having it ‘hard’ had never really crossed Haruka’s mind until he’d had to deal with things like stairs.  Even then, they were a stupid invention and didn’t need to exist at all.

“You’ve never had legs?” The blonde looked quizzical. “So were they cut off as a baby? Or are they teeny little nubs that never grew? OOOOO Haru-chan do you have baby legs?” The boy reached for Haruka’s blanket. 

“No! Don’t!” Haruka jerked away, wheelchair tipping back on two wheels and teetering on the brink of falling. Only a last minute lunge the other way saved him from a face full of wood floor. Nagisa’s hand had stopped, frozen a hair’s breath away from him. 

“Haru-chan…” His voice was the quietest the merman had ever heard it. “You really don’t have any legs, do you?” Haruka watched, frozen, as the blonde reached around his lap, his blood turning to ice.

In his frenzy to right himself, his tail flukes had slipped out. Naked, exposed, and utterly non-human.

It was all over. Him and Makoto. His pod. _His freedom._ One wrong move and now he was bound to be turned in, handed over to whalers or scientists or butchers and poked and probed and caged until the day he died. He’d be trapped in a tiny net like countless other dolphins, left to waste away in solitude. All because he couldn’t keep himself hidden. All because of this stupid blanket.

The blanket, that at this very moment, Nagisa was carefully tucking back in place. He moved slowly; Haruka realized it was probably to not spook him again. The boy worked down from the hips, covering the wet towel that had been exposed and moving downwards, gingerly enough that Haruka knew if he moved, Nagisa would stop. When he reached the tip of Haruka’s tail he paused.

“Can I… can I touch it?”

Haruka was at a loss for words. There was no screaming, no calling for mermaid catchers, nothing more than how Haruka approached Ren’s game pad, with extreme and silent caution. Swallowing the lump in his throat, he nodded.

Nagisa’s hands were warm, his fingers shorter, chubbier than Makoto’s. They traced the curve of the fin’s ends, rubbed against his damp skin, before finally pulling away and covering it once again.

“The story about how you two met, it’s a lie, isn’t it? And Rinrin knows the truth about you too? Are you really a mermaid?”

Haru could only nod. “Mer _man_.”

“Merman…” echoed Nagisa thoughtfully. The blonde continued to gaze wistfully at the blanket. After a pause, he spoke again.

“But you and Mako-chan really are together? And you guys really love each other?”

He felt a pang in his heart at the word _love_.

“Yes…”

That small hand squeezed his tail. “Then I really hope you two make things work. Mako-chan lights up whenever he talks about you. Even when he doesn’t I can tell when he’s thinking about you, there’s something different about his smile then.” Nagisa talking like this, slowly, without all the excitement and volume, made his words sound so sincere. “You two really seem to be good for each other, and I hope you can be together for as long as you live.”

Haruka was at a loss for words. There were so many emotions washing over him at this instant he didn’t know whether he was going to laugh or cry.

“You’re not going to tell anyone about me?”

“Not unless you or Mako-chan say I can.  But one day I really want to see you swimming, with your tail and everything. Could we do that one day?”

The feeling to laugh bubbled slightly over Haru’s welling tears as he let the smallest of smiles grace his lips.

“One day.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm reaching the end of this AU here. There's only a few things I kind of want to do and depending on how much detail I go into I can wrap things up how I want them in under 3 chapters. Bear in mind I have most things planned out already, but if you happen to have any small tidbitty things like Haruka reacting to tea feel free to leave a comment and maybe I'll work it in before we end (:
> 
> Thanks for putting up with me guys!


	21. i am so fricking overdue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My final year of undergrad completely kicked my butt, so in celebration of my final final exam finishing here's a long awaited update that's been resting on my hard drive

Legs were amazing.

Tails, tails were great too. Tails meant fast swimming. Tails meant fluid movements, turning on a dime, and no pants. Tails didn’t get tripped up or sink into silty bottoms. Tails meant being able to leap clear over Makoto’s awestruck face and still have time to wave at him before slipping back into the water. They were sleek, elegant, and one of nature’s perfections.

But legs… legs could do something tails couldn’t, legs could do one thing that tails could not.

Or well, they could do dozens of things while tails could only do one.

“Makoto, how many different positions do you think we could do it in?”

The brunette’s response wasn’t quite a number, but more of a horrified whimper as he sunk his face under the waves to avoid answering. On the other hand, the thrashing and “OH MY GOD” coming from Rin as he tried to put several feet of seawater between the two of them at least had distinguishable words.

“WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU THINKING ABOUT THAT WHILE WE’RE SWIMMING?” Rin had raised one foot to the surface as a guard between him and Haru. The mermaid shrugged.

“We’re all swimming and I started thinking about legs and tails.”

“ _How is that related to sex?!”_

Haruka averted his gaze, glancing sheepishly at Makoto, who blinked, then let out a low groan.

“Oh mannnn…. Ran’s doll, the jointed one she plays with in the tub. You were fiddling with it seeing what the legs could do. That’s how you started wondering about this, isn’t it?”

“ _No,”_ said Haruka. He’d actually thought of it once or twice before then, but after seeing that jointed doll his mind had been swirling with all the things having legs meant for that type of thing.

 _Totally_ natural.

“You’re not planning on doing it right now, are you?” Rin was steadily trading water away from them. “Oh god, don’t tell me you’ve done it in this spot before, _I am not swimming in your semen!!”_

“We do it on the rocks. And sometimes the beach.”

“HARU!!” wailed Makoto, the same red as Rin’s hair. “Rin doesn’t need to know that!”

He sniffed. “He doesn’t seem to realize that seed is everywhere in the ocean. Fish do it. Whales do it. Sea urchins do it. I even saw two humans doing it once too.”

Rin stopped dead in his wake.

“Why the fuck am I even friends with this fish boy…”

“Part _dolphin_ boy _.”_ Haruka corrected 

“FINE,” said Rin with an exasperated sigh. “I can’t believe _dolphin boy_ is talking about sex and sea life cum while we’re in the middle of the bay. Come on man, that’s gross!" 

“Is it gross if I talk about it when you’re not here or is it still gross?” A smidge of taunting was discernible in Haru’s words.

Rin rolled his eyes. “I know you guys do it all the fucking time but maybe don’t start talking like you’re going to do it in front of my face. I’ve already seen more of Makoto’s ass than I’ve ever wanted to see.”

The brunette was sinking below the water, face furiously red as Haruka began interrogating Rin about the fingering episode.

Two minutes and several demands to know _exactly_ how many fingers were in Makoto as he was moaning Haru’s name, the pair finally decided to check on their mortified companion. The brunette was drifting by on his back, unfocused gaze towards the clouds, soundlessly mouthing words only he could hear.

“Should we… stop him?” asked Haru.

Rin shrugged. “It’s probably better if we just let him come out of it himself. Knowing him he’ll faze out of embarrassment in another few minutes. Just try not to bring it up as soon as he decides to talk to us.” He swam a few strokes towards the shore.

“Speaking of… you’re creepily interested in his ass today.” Red eyes narrowed. “There isn’t some insane fish girl around riling you up, is there?” 

“No,” sighed Haru. For once he’d let the fish comment slide. “I’ve just been thinking… humans do it differently than merpeople, right?”

Rin gave a hesitant nod. “Sex differently… how? Like the whole do it with anyone to keep the population going thing?”

“Not that. Maybe partly that, I never liked that anyway. I mean… we have everything at our fronts, so you can really only do it one way. But Makoto’s hole is-“

“Let’s not get to vivid describing Mako’s butthole. I’ve had enough of that for 10 years now thanks to you.”

 _“Fine._ ” Haruka huffed. “ _Humans_ have a hole in the middle… and since they have legs that move everywhere, that means they probably use different positions than I use. Different than what I’d ever think to use…” he trailed off, timidly looking up at Rin from beneath his bangs.

He could see the tides whooshing in Rin’s head, swirling back and forth as he tried to work out the unasked question.

“Wait… does that mean…” the redhead groaned, sliding a pruney hand through his hair. “Are you seriously fucking worried you’re not fucking him properly?”

Haruka nodded.

“Holy shit _you’re worried about that?_ You two do it like bunnies – er, uh,” he noticed the blank look the merman was giving him. “You two do it super fucking often, okay? And you think that if he does it with you like 6 times a week he secretly hates it?”

“We don’t… we’ve mated maybe 10 times.”

“Oh.” Rin looked surprised. “I seriously thought…”

Haru shook his head. Despite how frequently he found Makoto severely attractive, they only had sex every so often, commonly lining up with whenever the front of Makoto’s swimsuit bulged.

“That still doesn’t mean he doesn’t like it. God, one time I saw him after he had such a stupid grin on his face he wouldn’t stop no matter how much I yelled at him.”

That made him feel a bit better. But still, here in the ocean there was no way of knowing everything about loving a human. No sailor or fisherman would ever go into such explicit detail talking about that type of thing and his pod certainly wasn’t going to fill him in.

“Rin…” Haruka thought back to the sad seal face Makoto and his siblings made. A tilted head, big watery eyes, bottom lip pushed out from a small frown. If there was ever a time to try and use its power on someone now was a good start.

“No… you are not asking me to help you work out the best sex positions for you and my best friend to do it in.”

He tried a slow blink, letting his lip quiver ever so slightly. 

The other rolled his eyes and started swimming back to the beach. “… I fucking hate you.” He made it 8 or 10 strokes before looking over his shoulder. “You and Makoto both owe me big time for this, _and don’t you dare tell him I showed you_.”

Haruka gave a little victory bob. Score for the seal face. He tapped Makoto on the shoulder, nodded back towards the shore, and trailed after Rin.

They made it back several dozen meters before Makoto, Rin already partway up the beach at his backpack taking a towel out. Haruka scooted up beside him, belly now coated in damp sand as he dripped on Rin’s shoes.

“You can’t tell _anyone_ about this, got it? No one. Not even your dolphin friends.” He was holding onto his phone, face just as vicious as the day he’d come after Haruka on their first meeting.

“… Okay?” _Why was Rin being this secretive?_ He got that talking about this type of thing wasn’t something Rin liked but being this paranoid about it? Whatever the reason, Haru’s hesitant agreement seemed to be enough for him. The redhead knelt beside him, ears quickly reaching the same shade as his locks. He thrust the screen in the merman’s face, all the while looking off into the distance as if locking eyes would cause him to spontaneously combust. Haru leaned closer and squinted at the image.

“That’s two men having sex.”

He swiped sideways, as Makoto had taught him before, and the image changed to that of a man up against a wall as another pushed his penis inside.

“This is also two men having sex.” He continued swiping again and again, each time greeted by a new pair of men and even more angles of holes and penises. They were all drawings he noticed, not perfectly lifelike but each offering an astounding view of the receiving man’s asshole. He looked up at Rin, and the words were out of his mouth before he paused to think.

“Do you… have sex like this too?” He flipped past a particularly juicy image of the bottom’s leg raised to his shoulder and felt his member twitch slightly, but his attention was focused on Rin.

The boy was trembling, his face seemingly unable to decide between scarlet or white. He seemed unable to speak, let alone focus his eyes on anything.

“Are you like Makoto and me?”

Rin swallowed.

Haruka wanted to probe more. He wanted to know why Rin had these photos, why he had so many of them, what he did with them. He wanted to know if there was another like him and Makoto, going against nature’s system to be with someone that wasn’t expressly designed to take their genitals. He wanted to know if Rin could recommend some things he knew for sure Makoto would like. But he didn’t ask… instead he quelled his questions and returned Rin’s phone to his hand.

“Talk to Makoto. He’ll know good words to say.”

Rin nodded silently. Haru watched as a trickle of relief entered his friend’s face.

“Also why is that guy doing push-ups with his penis in his mate?”

Rin was saved answering by Makoto’s timely arrival. While he wasn’t sure if it was the lighting, or the fact he’d just been show several _very graphic, extremely provocative_ ways to pleasure him, Haru couldn’t help but feel blood rushing in his ears as the brunette strode up the beach. Those thick, muscular thighs building up into two firm cheeks, the trail of water dripping down the line of his abdomen and the V of his –

“What are you guys talking about?” he asked timidly. “Nothing… _that_ related, right?”

Rin seemed to assess the situation, eyes flickering between Makoto and Haruka. He licked his lips, seeming to have decided on the best course of action, and rose to his feet.

“I HAVE TO GO!” And – in the most tactful move possible – Rin sprinted up the beach, almost tripping as he tugged his shirt on.

The brunette stared blankly as the spot his friend had just stood. “Is everything okay?”

Haruka shrugged. “I asked him for advice on human things and he got embarrassed.”

“I guess that makes sense…” said Makoto as he sat down beside him. “It didn’t have to do with… oh god no please no… it wasn’t the butt thing was it? ‘Cause it was a total accident and I’ve never done it again I couldn’t do it again Icouldn’tpicturemymomorthetwinswalkinginonmeli-“ his lover began to ramble at an alarming speed, words rapidly fading into boat propeller noises he was speaking so fast.

“Makoto. Breathe.”

The brunette gulped. Haruka sighed. He wasn’t intending to talk about this today. He’d wanted to save this type of thing for a special time, a night together under the stars perhaps, or one last warm summer shower.

“I guess it’s kind of related to that. I wanted to know the right way for humans to… well… do it.”

He felt Makoto stiffen next to him.

“W-why? What did Rin say about it?”

The mermaid ignored the second question in order to save the redhead from complete embarrassment today. “You’re… designed differently,” he said slowly. “Merpeople can really only do that thing one way, but your…” his voice trailed off. Why was it easier talking about this kind of this to Rin than to Makoto? Flustered, but knowing he couldn’t leave off, he gestured to his cloaca. “…this… it’s in the middle… so you can do things we don’t… we don’t…”

“You thought the way we do things is wrong for me?”

Silence met Makoto’s words.

Warm fingers grabbed his wrist, shaking his arm with each word that came from his partner’s mouth. “W-what do you think is the right way for me? What do you want… what ways do you want to do it with me?”

He didn’t want to speak. What if he was wrong? They ways they’d had sex before were okay, they were safe… Makoto seemed okay with them, or at least, okay enough. Images were flashing through his mind, Makoto splayed out beneath him, Makoto in those positions of Rin’s men calling his name, Makoto in positions only his mind had ever seen. His insides churned thinking of them, thinking of Makoto caught up in ecstasy with him…

“Haru…” Makoto breathed in his ear. “Tell me what you’re thinking…”

Eyes fluttering, heartbeat pounding, he spoke.

“I want to trace out Makoto’s back with my lips… I want to kiss you over your shoulder as I enter you, I want to feel your body curl into mine as you’re filled with me. I want to spread your legs apart, watch as we’re connected together. I want to map out your insides and outsides until I know them like my own and you call out my name… I want to pleasure you until we collapse into the waves, exhausted… I-I want…”

He found the strength to look Makoto in the eyes. His partner’s face was flushed, eyes slightly distant. One hand was desperately fumbling between his thighs.

_Could it be?_

“Makoto…” he leaned closer. The brunette leaned backwards but it only allowed him to get closer. He could see individual lashes on the boy’s eyes, every single minute difference in the pink spread across his face. When he spoke he could feel the hot mist of his words against that reddened skin. “Are you hard right now?”

Makoto’s mouth remained frozen but his eyes betrayed him. The merman’s fingers slowly traced their way down trembling thighs to rest against the stiffening bulge trapped within the jammers.

“H-Haru…” whimpered Makoto again, almost pleadingly. His thumb traced the outline of Makoto’s package, his gaze never wavering from his lover’s.

“Do you want me to?”

The space between their lips closed with a crash. Haruka was tugged onto Makoto as the brunette pulled him into a kiss… sloppy, needy. “How could…” he gasped, “I not…” Words were scattered between their mouths each time they paused for air. “… your words… too much…” Their groins pressed together as Makoto ground up against him and a moan escaped his lips only to be swallowed. They moved with urgency, fingers clumsy with want as they tried to separate Makoto’s legs from his suit. With effort they freed one from its fabric confines, leaving the other still half robed in tight black cloth.

Together their fingers slid between Makoto’s cheeks, teasing the outer ring of muscle of his entrance. The brunette gasped as one of his own fingers pushed through. A flash of discomfort appeared on his face, Haruka removing them solemnly and guiding them north, away from that special place to where their cocks touched, both fully exposed to the light of day.

“Here first, stroke here,” he coaxed, wrapping Makoto’s fingers around their members and guiding them in swift, sharp motions. Fluid leaked from their tips, slicking the sensitive organs and coating their hands. Haruka’s lips greeted Mako’s nipples, suckling eagerly and rewarded with a long moan. He could fell the brunette twitch against him, feel him get harder in his hands as he played with him, the steady beads of precum trickling down his length.

Makoto had begun to loose his rhythm. His hips were moving in erratic jerks to meet Haru’s hand. He knew Makoto was close, that if they continued like this it would be over far too soon.

“Makoto… here now…” he guided long fingers – now coated in his slick – back to Makoto’s asshole. Blue eyes watched under heavy lashes as Makoto stiffened himself, then pressed his fingers inside. They met little resistance, gliding smoothly inside. He smiled, curling his own against Makoto’s special spot and watching the response he got.

“H-how..?” panted Makoto as he continued to stretch himself, “how is it so much easier now?”

As a reply Haruka tugged his fingers to tease Makoto’s chest anew, smearing their combined fluids across his chest in a moist sheen. “Mine’s oily,” he said between kisses to Makoto’s neck. “Slides in easily…”

“Ha-ahhhh I can – aahh – feel that…” The merman returned his hands to the ass anew, fresh waves of pleasure shooting through him as he discovered 3 of Makoto’s fingers already deep inside himself.

“Makoto… let me in?”

Reluctantly Makoto’s fingers left their home, a sticky trail following them as the boy choked back a sob of loss.

“Quickly Haru,” he pleaded, “come inside me.”

The merman had to hold himself back to take in this moment. Makoto’s legs were splayed wide, his back arched to expose his hole to Haruka’s piercing gaze. A thin trail of the precum they’d used as lubricant was already leaking out from it as it waited in anticipation, practically calling him name, inviting himself to loose himself within it. It took all his control not to plunge inside in that instant. He’d do this right.

“Makoto,” his hand slid down his partner’s bare leg, stopping to hook itself in the crook of the knee. He lay down beside, raising Makoto’s leg up… up… up to his rapidly beating heart. “I’m entering from behind.” They were chest to back, Makoto’s knee a whisper away from his own face as he peered down the expanse of body he admired so much. Just within his sight he could he his member pressed against Makoto’s perineum, bumping against the bottom of his balls as he prepared himself for the moment to come. Then slowly, deliberately, he slid his way inside.

He took his time, his cock using the extra seconds to remember the topography of Makoto’s body. The initial tightness of his entrance followed by the warm embrace of his hole, that first bump he came across as he delved inwards, the warm region that marked the location of Makoto’s weakest spot. Inwards he slid, his breaths coming in short gasps as he followed every curve until at last he was fully seated inside. Makoto whimpered against him.

“Haru… please… move…”

A slight smile crossed Haruka’s lips. He let his mouth explore Makoto’s back, tongue tracing the curves of his muscles, the edge of his hairline, as his fingers returned to their ministrations of his lover’s chest. Rather than plunge in with fervor he allowed his hips to rock, preferring to milk the desperate sounds Makoto made as he moved his cock against his prostrate in slow, lazy circles. It was enough to keep Makoto on edge, but not enough to come. He’d only be able to last so long before he gave in his own urges and Makoto’s breathy pleas, but for now he continued, letting the noises power his lust.

“More… Haru more! I’m so… so close…”

“Hang on,” he coaxed, and drew their lips together in a long kiss. Makoto was twitching around him, his body desperately seeking the stimulation it craved. He began to pump faster, swinging his hips enough to finally move his cock in and out of his lover’s ass, even if only partially. Makoto was fighting against his held position, his entire body attempting to bob up and down in the sand to meet his own satisfaction.

“Haru… let me…” Before he could acknowledge the request with speech Makoto’s leg had slipped from its hold and control slid from his grasp. Freed at last the brunette moved with his own needs, wriggling to wright himself in the now disheveled sand. 

“More… I need you to move more…” Haruka wasn’t sure if the instructions were for himself or his partner. Makoto had tipped him onto his back, dorsal fin now as deeply embedded in the shoreline as his cock inside those tight walls. Head facing tail, heels rooted on either side of him Makoto began to move. His hips rolled up and away before slamming back down onto the merman’s own, his entrance stretching and shrinking to accommodate the length. Thought left Haruka, his body fully disconnected from his mind as he watched Makoto’s hole swallow him tirelessly. Nothing escaped his eyes. Sweat and salt water sluiced down the lines of Makoto’s muscles in translucent beads, following the curve of his rear to the place they were connected. All the while the sounds of their bodies, the scent of their musk, the gasps of Makoto’s lungs filled his senses, flooding them… flooding him.

It was too much to contain.

He came with a yell, his arms clutching Makoto to him as his seed surged forth. The din of senses calmed slightly, his sight blurring momentarily to allow the others to step forth and present their findings.

Makoto’s insides remained hot and trembling, if now slightly stickier. Unlike Haruka he remained tightly wound, muscles still poised to spring at any second, his breath still coming in shallow gasps. The merman traced his way about the taunt hips, fingers encountering Makoto’s still hard erection.

“A-almost…” Makoto pled, “I’m almost there...”

He felt a pang of guilt at his being overwhelmed by a this brand new sight. He’d sensed it, but not until now had he ever realized how erotic Makoto could become, or how easy it was to become overcome by it. 

“One second Makoto,” he said, flipping them over. His lover’s legs remained splayed beneath him, bare cock rubbing into the coarse sand as Haruka prepared his body against Makoto’s feverish back. “Stay still and I’ll help you finish.”

Face pressed into the scent of the boy’s hair he began, tail rising and falling, his cock trailing passively along for the ride. _Like a human_ he thought, _this is how they have to please their partners_. His lips parted to taste Makoto, let his essence recharge his immobile member. _Aim_ , he thought _, roll and aim, roll and aim_. Ever alert his ears hung onto every breath, every gasp Makoto let out, letting them guide him inside, his sense of touch giving way to the others for Makoto’s completion. 

Instinct took over and he was no longer on land, but swimming. His body undulated on its own accord, moving tirelessly through Makoto. Breath caught still in his lungs he labored on, letting himself become as one with Makoto as he did with the sea. Like an infinity and an anchor, they were filled with endless possibilities, always drawing him back to them.

“H-Haru! My cock… it’s rubbing… I-I feel we-weird…” At Makoto’s urging he wound his hands around the broader back, cupping the heaving chest and swollen member and squeezing rhythmically with each thrust inwards. The response was clear. His pace quickened, as if he was racing towards the surface for air, racing forwards with larger and larger rolls propelling himself faster and faster-

Makoto came like a breech out of water. His insides clung to Haruka, trying to hold him within even as his body’s tension broke with a throaty cry of the merman’s name. Haruka hung there motionless as his lover spilled forth onto the sand, frozen in the feeling of that fleeting moment. Then, with a rush of air in his lungs and Makoto’s hold slackening on him, he fell back to earth.

The pair collapsed in the sand with Makoto pinned beneath, their diaphragms heaving as they attempted to catch their breath.

“H-holy mackerel Haru…” Makoto wriggled awkwardly on the ground to see the other’s face. “That was something else.”

“Something… good?” he asked hesitantly. He still felt sheepish about coming before his partner.

“ _GOD YES_ ,” was the boy’s enthusiastic reply. “You were teasing me for so long that when you changed the pace and did me like that I blacked out for a second.” A hand reached around his rear to give Haru’s dick a cheeky pinch. “Not sure if it’s ever felt that wild before… it was like you would go on forever until you milked me dry.”

"Ah... but you don't want me to do that, do you?"

Makoto cocked an eyebrow at him, a sly smile on his lips.

* * *

 

A loud thud and the wafting odors of freshly made food woke Makoto from his dozing. Rin stood in his bedroom doorway, a bag of takeout in one hand and a look of unsurprising annoyance on his face.

“You promise me dinner for putting up with fin-boy talking about your sex lives and you go and let him do you so hard you can’t keep it?”

The brunette gave him a drowsy grin. “Nice to see you too Rin.”

“If you’re making fun of me because I’m not getting a fish-dick stuck up my ass on the regular you can stop now.”

“Wallet’s on the desk, help yourself.” He chuckled and adjusting his sore hips to make room for his friend beside him. “What did you get?”

"Chicken burgers. You're still treating me to coffee another time, be glad I didn't place a pickup order at that fancy Italian place." Rin sat down on the bed beside him and pulled out a burger oozing barbecue sauce from the bag. "By the way, mine's double meat. I figured you don't need any more after that."

" _Pfft_ , if you say so." His own was definitely smaller, but he couldn't care at the moment, he was just happy to see food. The two chewed in near silence for a while, only the occasional comment or question that could be asked around a mouthful of food.

Rin had finished half his sandwich when he paused, a finger drumming on the bun as he seemed to contemplate something.

"Hey Makoto, what are you going to do next year? When you go away to university?"

**Author's Note:**

> Unbeta'd so if you catch glaring spelling mistakes feel free to tell me and I'll fix them


End file.
